Campus visitor policy announcement

July 27, 2020
Anthony P. Sharon, Acting Deputy Executive Vice President, 2020–2020 | Krystyn Van Vliet, Associate Provost, 2017–2021 | Ian A. Waitz, Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education | Maria T. Zuber, Vice President for Research |

Dear colleagues,

We are writing to update you on the finalized campus visitor policy for fall 2020 through the end of the calendar year.

During our phased approach to ramping up critical campus operations, MIT’s first priority is to safely enable our faculty, staff, postdocs, and students to have increased access to the MIT campus. We want community members to be able to pursue their educational, research, and campus operations activities as safely and effectively as possible. To achieve this goal, we must maintain low population density in our buildings and campus, and as such, visitor access to campus will be significantly limited and discouraged through the end of 2020.

We recognize that some visitors are vital to performing crucial campus functions or need access to specific essential services provided by MIT. As such, we are granting narrow categories of exceptions to our overarching restrictions on campus visitors. Exceptions will be primarily limited to those visitors whose access to campus enables MIT’s on-campus educational and research activities to continue as well as to those visitors whose vital services support these endeavors. Groups that are eligible to request approved facilitated visits to campus are:

  • Individuals involved in collaborative research
  • Individuals involved in instruction
  • Individuals involved in campus construction and operations, including residential and retail services
  • Individuals who need to access benefits-related services such as medical care who are not MIT appointees

The details of the policy are outlined here, under the Visitors section. Note that for the purposes of this campus visitor policy, MIT campus is defined by buildings with assigned MIT building numbers in Cambridge (whether owned or leased by MIT), as well as select off-campus research facilities (Bates Research Center in Middleton, MA, and MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, MA).

Visitors who are not explicitly provided a path to campus access via the above exceptions categories are not allowed on campus. All MIT departments, labs, and centers who are sponsoring approved visits from the above categories will be informed separately on the internal access process and testing protocols for their visitors.

Separate guidance is also available about:

  • Visitors involved in MIT research, including visiting faculty, scholars, scientists, engineers, affiliates, and students.
    • Please note that only those undergraduate students who are invited to campus in fall 2020 and live on-campus are allowed access to MIT facilities for in-person instruction, labs, or UROPs.
  • Visitors to residence halls (see the Covid policies for undergraduate residents and graduate residents.

We know everyone is eager to return to campus. Our hope is that by permitting a limited number of campus visitors in the fall, we will be able to allow more of our own community members increased access to campus in the coming months.

Sincerely,

Anthony Sharon, Acting Deputy Executive Vice President
Krystyn Van Vliet, Associate Provost
Ian Waitz, Vice Chancellor
Maria Zuber, Vice President for Research