President's Monthly Update: In Recognition of the Past Year - and Looking Ahead

March 2021

Members of the Rutgers Community:
 
A year ago this week, President Barchi announced that spring break would begin early and that students at Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick would be learning remotely “until at least Friday, April 3.” Thus began a profound transformation in the way we operate, a change that has lasted longer and affected more aspects of life at Rutgers than anyone first imagined.
 
As we mark one full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to salute all of you who have kept Rutgers going. You may have read the Rutgers Today articles last week about the tremendous contributions our researchers and health care front-line workers have made. As they were fighting the medical battle, our staff and faculty were keeping Rutgers running, our bills paid, and our courses going through a combination of tenacity and creativity.
 
I especially want to honor those workers at Rutgers who never left. Because of the nature of your jobs, you continued to show up on campus to maintain buildings and grounds, ensure that labs were operating properly, and keep the community safe and secure. You have my enduring admiration and thanks. 
 
Others of you navigated a myriad of new dimensions brought to your work: helping students return safely to retrieve their belongings, reimagining commencement, recruiting and supporting an incoming class amid COVID, and rethinking courses. You have implemented a new grading policy to assist students struggling in the online environment, new protocols to keep Rutgers buildings as safe as possible, and new policies and resources to enable so many of us to work from home effectively. You have provided counseling and academic advising in a new environment, you have kept us informed, you have helped our student athletes compete safely, and a thousand other things I haven’t mentioned. 
 
And all of these efforts have happened against a backdrop of a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 23,000 New Jerseyans, including many in the Rutgers family.
 
Students, I know the past year has been extremely difficult, and as hard as we’ve worked, we can’t replace the in-person experiences this pandemic has prevented you from enjoying. I’m truly sorry for that. I applaud your determination and resilience in facing these challenges and disappointments, and I admire those creative ways many of you have found to express your talent and personality and spirit.
 
We’re not out of the woods yet—the decline in new cases in New Jersey has plateaued at a level much higher than it was last summer. But with vaccinations increasing we are moving closer to a time we can be together again, and I’m optimistic about what Rutgers will look like after the summer. I can't wait to see people walking the campuses, having students and faculty back in classrooms, hearing about lectures and concerts that are NOT virtual-only, and finally having a chance, in person, to celebrate the Classes of 2020 and 2021.
 
Thank you for the role each of you have played in bringing Rutgers through one of the most difficult years in our history. To the extent that Rutgers is a special place it is because of you.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor