This message is being sent to all Duke undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, as well as the incoming Class of 2025.
Friday, April 16, 2021
Dear Students,
As you know from President Price’s announcement last week, we intend to require all students—undergraduate, graduate and professional—to be vaccinated in order to attend classes and other campus activities this Fall. Underlying this plan are several factors which we will closely follow, including the anticipated FDA approval of vaccines, WHO recognition of vaccines related to international students, ongoing availability of vaccines, and continuing (and new) travel restrictions. We will expect all of our students to provide proof of vaccination or to obtain a medical or religious exemption. In addition to protecting the community through vaccination, we expect to continue masking and some level of surveillance testing.
We know you have many questions about Fall planning. Please see the FAQ on the Keep Learning website, as well as the information below.
We anticipate returning to in-person instruction with normal classroom density—however, we will provide an exemption process for faculty who have medical reasons precluding their immediate return to in-person instruction. These plans are subject to change, of course, depending on the status of the pandemic. The mode of delivery for each course will be shown during course registration.
One unpredictable element to our planning comes from uncertainty around international student access to the U.S. We have assembled a set of FAQs for International Students to address these issues.
Best,
Sally Kornbluth, Provost
Jennifer Francis, Executive Vice Provost