We look forward to being back on campus and offering some in-person events and activities in addition to in-person instruction this academic year. Because of UCI’s vaccination mandate for faculty, staff, and students, the UCI community already has a very high level of protection. The campus also has a robust set of additional public health measures in place, including an indoor masking requirement, daily symptom check, symptomatic and asymptomatic testing, and contact tracing. We will be closely monitoring the external and internal situation to ensure that the return to campus occurs with limited risk to our community.
The School of Humanities is implementing the following guidelines for events and food service for Fall quarter 2021.* To protect the health of our SOH community, these School guidelines are somewhat stricter and more specific than some of the general campus requirements.
Collect participant names and contact information for possible contact tracing
For all in-person events, you will need to arrange for someone at the door to collect the contact information of each attendee for possible contact tracing. Retain those records at least a month. We also recommend you have some disposable masks on hand in case an attendee forgets to bring one. Sanitizer is available in the School conference rooms.
Public-facing events (with external participants)
We strongly recommend that public-facing events in Fall be done virtually. The campus visitor guidance
is summarized below:
UCI Campus Requirements (https://uci.edu/coronavirus/visitors/pdfs/visitor-guidance-final.pdf)
o Visitors/non-affiliates must follow UCI’s Face Covering Executive Directive and must wear a face covering when required under Section A.2 of the Executive Directive unless an exception applies (i.e.: medical, under 2 years of age, etc.).
o Visitors/non-affiliates will self-attest to meeting the face covering exemption.
o When visitors/non-affiliates are invited by departments for meetings, training, conferences, etc., departments should collect and maintain visitor/non-affiliate contact information in the event it is needed for contact tracing purposes.
Events for campus audiences
Small events with a campus audience (faculty, students and staff) can be held in person, but taking additional precautions is recommended. We suggest the following guidelines:
o Get a complete attendance list in case there is a need for contact tracing.
o Make sure that you request a large enough meeting/event space to prevent overcrowding. We no longer have occupancy restrictions; however, social distancing is still effective at preventing transmission.
o Consistent with the current Face Covering directive, all employees and students must wear face coverings indoors, unless they qualify for an exemption.
o Provide, if possible, a virtual option.
o Explicitly remind potential participants that if they are feeling sick or showing potential symptoms, they should not attend in person.
Hybrid events
HG 1030 and HG 1010 have been equipped with new technology to support hybrid events. (We are working on that capability for HG1002 and HIB137). Hybrid event formats include the following:
o Speaker and small audience in-person with event live-streamed to Zoom or Facebook.
o Speaker and small audience in-person with event videorecorded and promoted as an online resource.
o Virtual event with an in-person “watch party” – for virtual events, consider hosting a small inperson event with campus folks to watch the event and participate in discussion.
Food and Beverages
o Do not serve food indoors. Eat outdoors. According to medical experts such as those in UCI Health, eating together – unmasked, talking, breathing on each other – creates a higher risk of transmission.
o If you wish to offer food, choose individually wrapped items. Do not allow self-service in a buffet; if you wish to offer a buffet meal, hire servers to avoid shared use of serving utensils.
o If you plan to serve alcohol, be sure to submit the alcohol permit several weeks in advance. As with food, drinks should be consumed outdoors. Thus, ensure you check the policy to see if the area needs to be cordoned off. Also, be sure to hire a bartender server to limit the number of attendees handling the beverages.
Conference room cleaning
During weekdays, SOH facilities staff will clean table surfaces and equipment in between events in the School conference rooms. For weekend events or weekday events ending after 5pm, the event host is responsible for the usual cleaning as well as for wiping down surfaces.
Department employees (staff or faculty) are responsible for cleaning department conference rooms in between classes or other events.
Please contact your departmental staff if you have any questions or want to talk about potential event formats.
*For those organizing Humanities Center events, please contact Amanda Swain for their Center guidelines.