October 18, 2021

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

I am writing to ask departments to begin the process of formalizing their Winter break plans for December 2021. The official campus holidays are as follows:

Thursday, December 23, 2021
Friday, December 24, 2021
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Friday, December 31, 2021

For those departments planning to close their offices between or around the Winter break holiday dates, I ask that you consult and report on your proposed plans as follows:

  • Non-academic departments should report proposed plans to their respective Vice Chancellors.
  • Academic departments should report proposed plans to their respective Deans, who in turn should report to the Executive Vice Chancellor.

Please formulate your plans and report them to your Dean or Vice Chancellor by November 3, 2021.  We will examine the plans to ensure that any proposed office closures do not create unnecessary hardships for faculty, staff, or students. 

In the event of a complete department closure between Monday, December 27, and Wednesday, December 29, 2021, employees will have the choice of using one or more of the following options, in accordance with University personnel policies and existing labor agreements, and subject to discussion and/or collective bargaining where applicable:

  1. Vacation (employees may utilize a certain number of vacation days in advance of their actual accrual as specified in University personnel policies and existing labor agreements; newly hired employees may utilize vacation accruals prior to six continuous months on pay status);
  2. Compensatory time off; or
  3. Leave without pay.

If you have any questions regarding the development of your Winter break plan, please contact Lisa Romero, Interim Director of Human Resources Director, at lisa.romero@hr.ucsb.edu.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor