I hope you have been able to rest, recharge and spend time with friends and family this summer.

As we prepare to welcome students back to our campuses over the next few weeks, a reminder that as of this Monday, Aug. 15, staff members are required to work 70% of the time in person as it was in Spring 2022. As you know, this means seven in-person days and three remote days every two weeks for full-time staff.

College Presidents/Deans and Vice Presidents or designees, in consultation with their Presidents/Deans, continue to have the discretion to require a higher percentage of onsite work if necessary to meet operational or academic needs. Remote work arrangements should be memorialized in a remote work form; we are extending the use of the form through December 31, 2022, based upon agreement with the PSC and DC 37. For information, go online.

Public Safety staff and other essential employees will continue to work fully in-person, and we are grateful for their continued presence across our campuses and offices. Employees who have concerns about in-person work due to medical or other considerations, can apply for a reasonable or general accommodation. For information, go online.

Although high levels of vaccination and population immunity have greatly reduced the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 for most people, we continue to monitor conditions with city and state health officials as the safety of our students, faculty, and staff remains our first priority. A couple of other reminders:

Testing
• CUNY will continue to monitor campus and University-wide positivity rates. Since August 2021, CUNY has administered nearly 300,000 tests to unvaccinated individuals. You can check the latest numbers in our COVID-19 Safety Tracker, available online

• We will also continue to offer free PCR testing. Any employee who needs to be tested for any reason may walk into a CUNY testing site and show their CUNY ID to get tested. For a list of CUNY sites and hours of operation, go online.

• The random testing of vaccinated staff, faculty, and students that began in November 2021 will also continue. Please be on the lookout in case you are randomly selected to be tested as you are required to comply.

Vaccination
• As a reminder, staff members who come under the vaccination mandate including non-teaching instructional staff (NTAs, CLTs, and those in the HEO series, among others), and personnel in the Executive Compensation Plan, are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, except if an exemption has been granted. Others are required to be vaccinated or need to participate in CUNY’s Cleared4 testing program. If you haven’t previously done it, proof-of-vaccination documents need to be uploaded and approved in CUNYfirst. We urge everyone to get your booster, which can also be uploaded in CUNYfirst.

While we will remain vigilant with the understanding that things can change at any time, I am looking forward to the upcoming fall semester and seeing our students thriving on our campuses, representing the next stage of the recovery of our University and our City.

By Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, PhD