Last updated: May 21, 2020, 4:00:22 PM
The governor of Virginia has issued a statewide stay-at-home order, effective until June 10.
Christopher Newport University administrators and health and safety experts are monitoring COVID–19 developments, meeting regularly and following the university’s policies and protocols. We receive frequent updates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Virginia Department of Public Health (VDH).
Newly admitted students can join us online for live chats and webcasts, individual enrollment consultation, a virtual tour, videos, and more at cnu.edu/virtualvisit.
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As we approach the end of the fiscal year, I am immensely grateful to each of you for your willingness to accept the challenges of the last several months and help us navigate our course through these difficult times. Monday, May 25 is Memorial Day, and I hope you enjoy this long holiday weekend with your family.
There has been a long-standing tradition at Christopher Newport to recognize your hard work and efforts with recognition leave on Fridays in July. We would have continued the practice this summer but on April 2, 2020, Richmond put a freeze on the use of recognition leave. I regret that we cannot offer you that extra time with your families but my hope is that we can return to the practice next summer. For those who might have leave available, I strongly encourage you to consider using it on Fridays so that you can enjoy some long weekends this summer.
The campus will remain closed to the public until August 1. Teleworking will continue and telework agreements for staff will be automatically extended through July 31.
Instruction will remain online for the summer terms in June and July and all summer activities on campus have been canceled. The travel freeze and the hiring freeze for staff positions remain in effect. Exceptions to the hiring freeze must be requested through your vice president or provost. We ask that you continue to curtail expenses as we reallocate resources to prepare the campus for reopening.
We are preparing for the return to campus and to begin classes no later than the first week of September and we will do this in a manner that is safe for our students, faculty and staff. Many of our colleagues are working hard so that we will be able to implement a program that addresses screening, testing, extensive and frequent cleaning, requirements for social distancing and face masks, and protocols for quarantining and contact tracing.
I am conferring regularly with my fellow presidents of Virginia’s public colleges and universities and decision makers in Richmond. We anticipate that the Governor will provide guidance to our schools by early June, which can be included in our program for reopening and shared with the campus community in early summer.
My thanks to each of you for your positive spirit and commitment to Christopher Newport, and my very best wishes.
