May 26, 2022

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

In consultation with our campus medical experts, the Academic Senate, student leaders, deans, members of the staff and administration, public health officials, and medical colleagues systemwide, we have concluded that it is prudent to return to our previous indoor masking policy. UC Santa Barbara will require masking in classrooms and other indoor campus shared spaces, starting tomorrow, May 27, through June 12, 2022.

Case numbers are significantly increasing in Santa Barbara County and here on campus. With our shared goal of supporting our students, as well as our dedicated staff and faculty, to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we will require indoor masking on our campus during the remaining weeks of instruction and through finals and Commencement weekend.

All indoor spaces on campus, including research spaces, are subject to the masking requirement, with the exception of individual residences in campus housing, dining halls while eating, or individual offices with one person with the door closed.

Students, faculty, and staff who must remove their masks during indoor music and performing arts rehearsals involving wind instruments, singing, etc. may continue to do so. Masks must be worn in indoor rehearsal spaces when not actively practicing, rehearsing, or performing.

This pandemic has consistently required us, as a University, as a community, and as individuals, to adapt, to persist, to be patient, and to take care of each other. Face masks, both surgical and N95, are available without charge for students, faculty, and staff at the UCEN Campus Store Customer Service Desk and the A.S. Pardall Center, and at other locations on campus.

We are committed to continuing our deliberate and consultative process to determine the best path forward for our campus community, relying on the most up-to-date scientific information and medical/public health best practices. Our campus medical experts and COVID-19 Working Group and Response Team are meeting regularly to assess COVID-19 policies and scientific data and to review and revise, as warranted, our campus mitigation protocols. We will continue to update our community, as needed.  

For questions related to the masking requirement or our campus’s overall response to the pandemic, our COVID-19 Response Team can be reached at ucsb-covid19@ucsb.edu. Information about our COVID-19 response can also be found at https://www.ucsb.edu/COVID-19-information.

As always, we are grateful to be a part of a community that looks out for each other, and takes individual action for the benefit of all. By working together as a unified community, we have been able to meet the challenges of the pandemic. We are deeply grateful for your — and all of our — efforts. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Stuart Feinstein
COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator and Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Vejas Skripkus
Executive Director of Student Health and Campus Physician

Mary Ferris
Campus COVID-19 Clinical Advisor

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor

Susannah Scott
Chair, Academic Senate

David Marshall
Executive Vice Chancellor

Joe Incandela
Vice Chancellor, Research

Margaret Klawunn
Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs

Garry Mac Pherson
Vice Chancellor, Administrative Services

Jeffrey Stewart
Interim Vice Chancellor, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Gerardo Aldana
Dean, College of Creative Studies

Steve Gaines
Dean, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management

Charles Hale
Dean, Social Sciences

Mary Hancock
Interim Dean, Humanities and Fine Arts

Jeffrey Milem
Dean, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

Michael Miller
Interim Dean, Undergraduate Education

Tresa Pollock
Interim Dean, College of Engineering

Leila Rupp
Interim Graduate Dean

Pierre Wiltzius
Executive Dean, College of Letters & Science
Dean, Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences