Dear students,

As we head into the final days of the Commodores Care period, I wanted to provide you with updates about campus protocols. Thank you to everyone for stepping up as One Vanderbilt and following our guidance during the first week back to slow the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

The Commodores Care period will end as scheduled at 8 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 24. At that time, we will return to our normal operations, with these enhanced safety protocols:

• Masking indoors at all times, except when actively eating or drinking or when in your private residence. We encourage you to wear KN95 masks when possible. If you have not retrieved your university-provided KN95 masks, you can access them through your on-campus residence or your dean’s or department head’s office.
• Maintaining physical distancing whenever possible.
• Participating in the university’s testing, contact tracing and quarantine and isolation processes as instructed.

Moving forward, students may attend Vanderbilt Athletics events, while abiding by the university’s health and safety protocols.

Campus Dining locations will open for indoor dining. When possible, we encourage you to maintain physical distancing while you eat. Here are some additional reminders about dining operations this semester:

• Campus Dining has been completing time studies this week to determine peak hours at dining locations. A breakdown of peak dining hours can be found here. We encourage you to take advantage of less-crowded times at dining locations if your schedule allows. In addition, please consider Kissam, Alumni Hall and Rand “grab and go” for expedited service during lunch.
• More dining stations are operational across campus for the spring semester, including:
  • Bowls and smoothies at Rand
  • Crafted flatbreads at Commons
  • Pierogi bowls, a rotating dinner option at Commons
  • Omelet bar at E. Bronson Ingram
• Continuous service will be available at Rand between breakfast and lunch.
• Zeppos, E. Bronson Ingram and Commons dining halls are now open until 8 p.m.
• Kissam now offers breakfast 7–10 a.m. weekdays and offers brunch 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. weekends.
• Highland Munchie Mart now offers a sushi and bubble tea meal plan combo 11 a.m.–2 p.m. weekdays.
• Munchie Marts are open daily with a variety of grab-and-go breakfast, lunch and dinner options, in addition to four Suzie’s locations, Holy Smokes Kosher Food Truck, Grins Vegetarian Café and Alumni Café.
• Campus Dining is once again partnering with the Catering and Events team to continue the popular popup series as another on-campus dining option.

Campus gatherings and activities will be allowed. However, to minimize opportunities for transmission, we still encourage you to limit group sizes and follow this guidance when in a group setting:

• Follow all campus health and safety protocols
• If serving food and drinks, follow campus gathering food and beverage guidelines
• Maintain physical distancing when possible
• Host virtual meetings when appropriate

The Commodores Care period has kept infection rates down; however, as we resume normal testing, we anticipate spikes in the number of positive cases, given the nature of this variant compared with the past variants. We will continue to work closely with students to quarantine and isolate as needed.

While we ease up on our restrictions, we still must work to protect everyone in our community. While the omicron variant is mild for many, we all have a personal responsibility as One Vanderbilt to keep all members of our community as healthy and safe as possible by continuing to be thoughtful in our actions and interactions. I also encourage you to continue to support each other and access Student Care Network support and care resources for help any time you are in need.

Thank you in advance for a strong end to the Commodores Care period over the weekend, and I look forward to creating memorable experiences this semester.

G.L. Black
Vice Provost and Dean of Students