To the TUJ Community:

There have been a cascade of positive developments recently including the first visit ever by a Minister of Education to TUJ, and the start of Jason Wingard’s tenure as Temple University President among other things. In addition, we are grateful that our staff, faculty, and a few of our students can start receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations on campus from July 11th. This is a wonderful development especially as vaccinations are another essential step in continuing to keep our campus and community safe.

As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, I also wanted to confirm that our approach to the recently announced fourth state of emergency (July 12-Aug. 22) will essentially mirror our past approach. As we strive to balance safety and service, we appreciate your continued flexibility and understanding.

Here are several notes about the recent declaration.

  1. Purpose of the fourth state of emergency?
    To help reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, the new declaration is primarily designed to discourage congregating, late-night dining, entertainment, and travel during the Olympics. Like past declarations, the Japanese government is focusing the declaration on bars, restaurants serving alcohol, karaoke establishments, and event venues wanting to host over 5,000 attendees. Olympic venues are impacted by the state of emergency as well. Schools and universities will remain open.
  2. How are TUJ and other universities impacted?
    In the case of universities, the government has not asked for a temporary shift to online classes. However, we are making adjustments with respect to some of our evening classes. Like the third state of emergency, this proclamation by the national government coincides broadly with our semester break. As such, the impact of the current order is limited at this time. We will continue to vigilantly monitor the situation and follow the guidance provided by local experts, governmental officials, and main campus.
  3. Staffing of our offices
    Safety continues to be a top priority with respect to our staff, faculty, and students. Our approaches to date have largely been effective. One of these approaches has been telework. We will continue to take the same approach to office staffing. For administrative departments that can complete their work remotely, we ask that telework be utilized to the extent possible. If you cannot effectively complete your work remotely, we ask that you come to campus while taking the standard precautions.
  4. Will campus continue to be open?
    Yes. We will continue to monitor the situation in Tokyo and adjust our approach and hours as necessary.

If you have any concerns or there is anything that we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,
Matthew Wilson
Dean