Please see the message below from Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Jon Ohlhauser:

Dear Crandall Community,

As the residents of the Province of New Brunswick anticipate and prepare for the March 14, 2022 conclusion of the Provincial Mandatory Order related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also wish to announce the University’s response for operations that will commence with the change in the Province on that date.

Throughout the pandemic we have relied on the expert opinion of the Health Leaders of the Province of New Brunswick to provide us informed and safe guidelines to use in managing our operations. We believe these guidelines were always developed with the best understanding of existing scientific knowledge available at the time of their announcements. We have no reason to doubt that this same understanding has led the same provincial officials to have confidence in rescinding the mandatory order as we shift from a perspective of a COVID-19 pandemic to a COVID-19 endemic.

On March 14, 2022, existing mandatory restrictions will come to a conclusion across the Province. They will also come to a conclusion at Crandall University. However, while the use of masks and physical distancing will no longer be mandatory, we know that many people will choose to continue to use both. As a community, we are in full respect of those who make such a choice and we will not want to make any person who makes such a choice to feel pressured to do otherwise.

For our residences and in our common spaces in the academic buildings, mask use and physical distancing will not be required but students and employees are free to continue to use masks if they so choose.

While mask use and physical distancing will not be required in F2F classes, we also understand that some instructors may have a medically sound need to ask students to continue mask use while attending specific classes. We ask that all students be mindful of the potential medical necessity of continuing to use masks in specific classes/labs if their instructor issues that request. No instructor will issue a request for using masks in their class unless there is a valid medical reason for their request.

We know that everyone has been through a very challenging season of life over the past 2 years and that the challenge for many will not suddenly end on March 14, 2022. We ask everyone to be in a position and have a mindset of extending grace to everyone as we gently move into the reality of COVID-19 as an endemic.

Dr. Ohlhauser
Chair, COVID-19 Advisory Group
Member, President’s Council

Crandall students and employees are reminded to monitor their university email accounts for the latest details regarding Crandall’s COVID-19 response, or for specific information relating to programs and services.