Announcements

We deeply appreciate your continued commitment to keeping Penn a healthy and safe environment in which to live, learn, and work by following the public health guidance we have instituted for those on and off campus. Wearing masks, keeping physically distanced, and washing your hands remain the most critical tools to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

This past year has been fraught with many challenges—from a global pandemic that has forced unprecedented life changes, to the civil, political and racial unrest that is continuing to unfold. Despite all of this, we have been working collectively with our partners in Penn Medicine and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to create an environment to bring the Penn community back together safely. We invite you to read this letter from Dr.

Nothing is more foundational to American democracy than respect for the peaceful transfer of power. Fueled by the dangerous propagation of falsehoods and disproven allegations, a mob on Wednesday assaulted this bedrock value of American democracy, storming our nation’s Capitol in an attempt to block the constitutionally mandated counting of certified electoral votes in our 2020 presidential election.

With increased testing, Penn will be able to accommodate more students returning to campus, while a hybrid model for classes will likely be similar to the fall semester.

Walter Wallace’s death is particularly difficult for the entire Penn and West Philadelphia community. We mourn together, and can find help from Penn resources if we need it.

Long before this public health crisis, we have affirmed our strong commitment to advance our core missions of teaching and research. With the start of the pandemic, we have redoubled our efforts to provide the strongest counterweight we can to these extremely challenging circumstances. We believe that it is precisely during moments like these when institutions of higher education are called upon even more to help set the intellectual agenda of the future and to produce the next generation of the most creative, thoughtful, and engaged scholars.

Perhaps never before in our nation’s history has your vote been more important. This has been an unusually long and stressful campaign season. As it draws to an end, with Election Day just two weeks away, we write to encourage everyone in the Penn community to take the time to vote. Our democracy depends on all Americans making their voices heard.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shortage of polling place workers. We have observed the nationwide effort to encourage citizens to serve as polling place workers on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2020. This is especially active in Philadelphia County, where the recruitment and training of nearly 4500 volunteers is in process. Service as a polling place worker generally requires active voter registration, advance preparation and training, and a commitment to 15 hours of work on Election Day.

We are enormously grateful to our students, faculty, and staff for the outstanding start to the fall semester. Our Penn community has risen to the challenge of these unusual circumstances, finding new ways of learning, working, and talking together in an online environment as we navigate through this worldwide pandemic.

Friday we lost one of the most respected, and most beloved, jurists of our time. A brilliant and barrier-breaking leader, Ruth Bader Ginsburg brought forth her fiery commitment to justice and equality with the truest grit possible. No one has ever worked more tirelessly and effectively to advance the equal status of women through the law. At the same time, Justice Ginsburg championed the ethical principles of equal liberty and human rights, advancing the cause of justice everywhere.