Wellness Day Reminders: Stay Safe. Stay Healthy. Do Your Part.

Dear Students:

Tomorrow is our first Wellness Day, one of two scheduled for the spring semester at the request of our students. Wellness Days were instituted as an opportunity for self-care, and in recognition of the need to rest, refresh and recharge given the stresses of college life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In support of tomorrow’s Wellness Day, the University has scheduled a full slate of events, activities and programming designed to enable you to relieve stress, enjoy the outdoors and care for your physical and mental well-being. We hope you will take advantage of these activities and programs.

All of this, however, comes with a challenge: Please choose to rest, refresh and recharge in ways that are responsible and safe.

Recently, several of our peer institutions have attributed similarly designated wellness days as a factor contributing to recent COVID outbreaks. For too many students at those schools, wellness days were used as an opportunity to act irresponsibly. And while the current COVID situation at Syracuse University remains tenuous but manageable, the increasing rate of infection on our campus remains concerning.

So tomorrow on Wellness Day, and throughout March Madness and what we all hope will be a trip to the Final Four for both our women’s and men’s basketball teams, we implore you to be safe, be smart and be accountable to each other.

Be well,

J. Michael Haynie
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation

Robert D. Hradsky
Vice President of the Student Experience

John Liu
Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost