December 23, 2021

Dear Yale College students,

President Salovey and Provost Strobel wrote last night to the Yale community with important information about the spring 2022 semester; I urge you read their message if you haven't already. You can find it on the Office of the President's website. It includes information about:

• the January 25 delayed start to the spring semester, with online instruction through February 4;
• the January 18-21 period for make-up examinations, all of which will be administered remotely. (More information about make-up final examinations follows, below);
• the new 2022 spring break dates: March 18-28;
• the indoor mask requirement, which will continue;
• the deadline to fulfill the booster requirement: January 18 if you are eligible, or within seven days of becoming eligible.

I know that that you are also eager to plan your return to campus. You may return to on-campus housing starting January 14, but if your plans are flexible you may delay your return to as late as February 4. You should expect to register your arrival window in order to stagger the repopulating of campus, with priority given to students with makeup exams or firm travel constraints; if you receive financial aid, you can request help from Yale SafetyNet with travel change fees. In early January, when we have more information about the public health situation, you will receive more instructions about returning to campus, including information about dining. If your travel plans are flexible, please wait to finalize any changes until you can confirm your arrival window when they are offered in early January.

Make-up examinations

In the meantime, I write with information about final examinations that were affected by the December 18 announcement that all examinations after that date would be offered remotely.

What follows affects only courses whose final examinations were scheduled on December 19, 20, 21, or 22.

If your instructor offered a remote examination at the regularly scheduled time, and you took it then, you do not need to take any additional action; you have completed the final examination.

If you did not take the final examination, the temporary mark of ABX will appear on your academic record, and you will take the make-up remotely during the week of January 17, 2022. You will receive instructions in early January about asking to take the make-up if you have not already.

All ABX examinations will be offered remotely. These ABX examinations will be rescheduled at their original starting times (9:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.) as follows:

• Exams originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, December 19, will take place on Tuesday, January 18;
• Exams originally scheduled to take place on Monday, December 20, will take place at on Wednesday, January 19;
• Exams originally scheduled to take place on Tuesday, December 21, will take place on Thursday, January 20;
• Exams originally scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 22, will take place on Friday, January 21.

Other options

If your instructor offered the option to waive the final examination, basing your final course grade on work you had previously submitted last term, you have options. You may:

• accept it, or
• convert it to the grade of "CR," or
• request an ABX and take the make-up on the date on the schedule above.

You will receive information in January about making any of these choices.

Courses with a CR resulting from this process:

• can count toward Yale College’s distributional requirements;
• can count toward the major for every department and program;
• do not count against the regular limit on grades of Credit/D/Fail.

I thank you for your patience and understanding at a time when public health circumstances are changing so rapidly, and now that the semester is over I send you my best wishes for the winter recess.

Sincerely,

Marvin M. Chun
Dean of Yale College
Richard M. Colgate Professor of Psychology; Neuroscience; Cognitive Science