Rice partially lifts mask mandate, changes testing requirements.
Changes fueled by vaccination increase, more info on virus
Rice University is no longer requiring masks in outdoor spaces on campus as long as people socially distance at least 3 feet.
In addition to partially lifting the mask mandate, people who are fully vaccinated will not be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests, said Kevin Kirby, chair of the university’s crisis management advisory committee.
Masks are still required indoors at all times unless a person is in their own enclosed space, office or dorm room, he said. Rice community members and visitors are, however, encouraged to wear masks in crowds and on the campus shuttle, Kirby added.
For people who are exercising or training, like student athletes, or people tending to the campus grounds, wearing a mask can be difficult and “is not really necessary,” Kirby told the Thresher, the Rice student newspaper.
Senior Jason Gardner, 22, said many students are happy that restrictions are being lifted, in part because they feel safe.
“If feels like Rice is kind of rewarding us for adhering to the rules for (several) months and allowing us a few weeks before graduation — for seniors like me — to live a little more normal of a college experience before we head off for the summer,” Gardner said.
The rise of vaccinations and more information about the virus itself prompted the policy change, Kirby wrote in an email to campus.
A community survey, which the university has been conducting over the past month, showed that 74 percent of the Rice community had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
That survey data indicates 87 percent of Rice undergraduates, 61 percent of graduate students, 72 percent of faculty, and 72 percent of staff have been vaccinated. Eighty-two percent of Rice’s population of 11,000 responded to the survey — including 94 percent of undergraduates and 69 percent of graduate students, according to survey data.
The university waited to announce the new policy to ensure everyone had the opportunity to be vaccinated, Kirby said, adding that Rice still has the ability to vaccinate the remainder of its community thanks to an increase in supply.
“Our hope and goal is to get above 80 percent (people vaccinated). If we can, I envision a mostly normal fall semester,” Kirby said.
Due to low demand, however, the college’s last vaccine clinic is Tuesday, Kirby told the Thresher.
COVID-19 testing will still be offered on campus, but at a reduced capacity. The Abercrombie testing site on campus will close permanently April 30, Kirby said.
The announcement comes following the university’s prediction that Rice will return this fall with some normalcy.
“The environment here on campus and in Houston is significantly better than a couple of months ago, and we’re anticipating that it will stay that way or get better,” Kirby said. “Summer is going to be a period of transition, and we’re looking forward to a mostly normal semester, doing all the activities that college students do.”
Rice Provost Reginald DesRoches and faculty senate speaker Christopher Johns-Krull said in an email that the school is planning that normal fall. Classes typically held face-to-face will be in-person, while classes typically taught online will remain in that
mode, they said. Classroom capacity will likely be higher than what is currently allowed.
University officials will release more details in the summer, including whether masks will be required inside classrooms. Some new techniques or ways of teaching adopted during the pandemic may remain.
“Faculty might wish to teach in a dual delivery mode, record their lectures using Zoom in the classroom, utilize more prerecorded lecture material to facilitate a flipped classroom environment or make other changes … based on
lessons learned over the past year,” DesRoches and Johns-Krull wrote.
Courses using a modified or blended model of in-person and online still must maintain a face-to-face component and offer students an opportunity for inperson contact, they added.
Other universities, including Texas A&M, the University of Houston, and the University of Texas at Austin, also plan to return to a “near normal” fall and have encouraged students to be vaccinated.