Good morning Guilfordians,

As you read in yesterday's weekly Health and Safety Task Force message, our vaccination rates are significantly up and our positivity rates remain very low. Over 98 percent of our faculty and staff and 90 percent of our students are fully vaccinated (with another 5 percent of students having received their first shot). Our COVID testing within the past week has produced only three positive cases out of 900-plus tests. I want to thank the entire community for your patience and diligence in dealing with the virus.  

I’m now very pleased to share some existing and forthcoming changes made possible by our much-improved campus situation. As we continue to balance a less restrictive campus environment with the ongoing need for safety, here is some great news:

• Hege Library has opened the first and second floors to students for quiet study between 8 am and 4:30 pm. Appointments are still strongly encouraged if you plan to meet with staff within the library. The 24-hour study space on the ground floor of the library remains open.
• To-go options in the dining hall will change starting Monday, Nov. 8, with reusable and returnable containers available for $5. This will help decrease the number of one-time-use containers distributed and encourage everyone to eat in our beautiful dining hall. And the ice cream and hot dessert bars are coming back!
• Intramurals will start up in the next week with an interest meeting on Thursday, Nov. 11, from 6-7 pm in the Athletic Center’s Forbes Room. Be on the lookout for a 3-on-3 basketball bracket and e-sports tournament when we return from Thanksgiving break.
• For residential students, information will be forthcoming from Residential Education and Housing regarding room capacities.

These changes would not be possible if our community had not responded so well to the vaccine mandate and COVID protocols.

Just in the past few weeks, I have been thrilled to see more and more events happening on campus:

• Theatre Studies is producing Smell of the Kill, which you can attend Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Sternberger Auditorium. 
• Last weekend, the Music Department performed a special Halloween musicale.
• CAB sponsored a trip to Carowinds Amusement Park and The Masked Singer event featuring students, faculty, and staff.
• HUG sponsored the Dia de los Muertos celebration last Friday at the Lake. [Check out photos from all of the events on Instagram.]
• Sherwood Anderson Visiting Writer Leah Naomi Green held a writing workshop and presented a poetry reading in the Carnegie Room of the Hege Library.
• The House of Straight and Cis Privilege in King Hall, sponsored by the Intercultural Engagement Center, ended its very well-attended run on Wednesday.
• We’re wrapping up the fall season for men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, football, men’s and women’s cross country, and triathlon with minimal disruption. Remember the final home game for our football team is Saturday at 1 p.m.

And so much more is being planned, such as tomorrow’s Soy un Lider conference for Latinx high school students, a celebration of first-generation students happening on Monday, Nov. 8, men’s and women’s basketball seasons kicking off later this month, Living Out Loud Week sponsored by Pride next week (Nov. 8-12), CAB’s Guilford Games on Nov. 13, our Friendsgiving event on Nov. 18, Giving Day for Guilford on Nov. 30, Choir concert on Dec. 5, and a holiday celebration on Dec. 6.

Although we are navigating a new normal together, we are creating a vibrant educational community with so much happening in and out of the classroom. Thank you for keeping Guilford a safe and fun place to learn and grow.

Sincerely,
Jim Hood ’79
Interim President