Fall 2022 COVID-19 Policy
Note: The following applies to College Unbound cohorts in the Rhode Island area. We are currently assessing data to determine the Fall 2022 COVID policy for College Unbound cohorts in Philadelphia and Chicago. Students in these areas should stay tuned for more information.
College Unbound cares deeply about the well-being of our community of students, faculty, and staff.
As such, College Unbound continues to require the SARS-COVID-2 vaccine and booster for all inside, in-person activities.
Masks will be required contingent on the community level transmissibility rate and recommendations of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and the CDC. At moderate community rates masks are recommended and at high community rates, masks are required and students will be notified before entering the building for their Lab meeting.
Additionally, Lab Faculty will meet with students to determine any additional cohort-based safety protocols (for example a student may request to their Lab Faculty that masks remain even in low-transmissibility rates). The Lab Faculty may then work with the Provost’s Office to determine cohort protocols.
As otherwise provided in its policies, CU shall comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), and any other applicable federal or state law or regulations with respect to all requests for reasonable accommodations from eligible students, including those related to an individual’s disability or sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance.
In order to support medical and religious exemptions to the CU vaccine policy, as well as to continue to support any CU students without vaccination, CU has developed two different, though equally robust, models for its cohort-based Lab courses. Instead of hybrid offerings, in 2022-2023, CU will offer both fully in-person cohorts and fully online cohorts to ensure the intimacy and care of a lab class can happen in a modality that is, and feels, a safe and supportive learning community. Online cohorts are made available to continuing students and any new student with a medical or religious exemption. Upon contracting COVID, please do not return to in-person cohorts until a negative test result. CU will provide tests as needed to ensure the safety of its community.
Any updates to CU's COVID policy will be made by a CU COVID committee composed of representatives of staff, faculty, and students of the college, and in consultation with health professionals. Students will be informed both on the website and through email communication of any changes.
The CU COVID committee will revisit this policy as necessary throughout the school year to ensure it complies with applicable laws and executive orders and is consistent with relevant guidance from the CDC, RIDOH, and RIDE.
CU would like to thank its community of students, faculty, and staff who informed this policy and who continue to navigate the pandemic and its effects with care for one another as their chief concern.
Vaccine Requirements Include:
- Received a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine CDC recommended booster shot, and at least fourteen (14) days have elapsed since receiving the aforementioned booster shot; or
- Completed the two-dose primary series of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine within the last 5 months; or
- Completed the two-dose primary series of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine within the last 6 months; or
- Completed the one-dose primary series of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the last 2 months.