Guidance for undergraduate social gatherings and parties

Dear undergraduates,

We know you’re excited, we know you want to hang out with one another, and this is what being on campus is all about, but we need you to do this safely to protect yourselves, your friends, and all the people around you including students and staff who are immunocompromised, who cannot take the vaccine or who are not yet fully vaccinated because vaccine was not available in their home locations. Everyone is at risk given the variants, and the risk could be quite high for a roommate or hallmate, a classmate, faculty member or friend, or a staff member in our dining halls or residences who is here to help you settle in.

What does all this mean? When you come across a large unofficial gathering, we need you to go the other way. (And, please, don’t start one in the first place.)  These gatherings — where students are not wearing face coverings and are not physically distanced — are not safe for you and everyone around you. Only private residential gatherings are allowed until October 1, pending COVID-19 conditions at that time. Here’s our guidance for student social gatherings and parties.

We’ve all seen the news about large numbers of positive cases at campuses that began fall term earlier than we did. Universities have shared that none of these cases were the result of classroom exposures. This is why we are concerned about spread in other campus settings, notably in social settings. The time will come for student-led gatherings at Stanford, but that time is not now.

Here are some things you can do: 

• Meet outdoors. Join up with a small group of friends to talk or walk or work out.
• Get to know campus. Take a walk or bike ride, find where your classes will meet, check out the fountains, and enjoy the scenery.
• Dine together. Eat in or take out at our dining halls and many other eateries across campus.
• Small gatherings in your room, with no more than four times the number of residents of the room. So for a single, four people total; for a double, eight people total, etc., with face coverings.

You have been good about testing. You have been good about wearing face coverings. Keep it up! We’re asking you to do these things so that we can identify positive cases early, isolate them, help them recover, reduce spread, and within a few weeks time after everyone arrives, create a relatively safe bubble so you can enjoy the full Stanford experience, both academic and social. Please make good decisions, mask up, and help us achieve this goal.

Sincerely,

Susie & Mona

Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Mona Hicks
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students