President Stanley looking forward to a “safe, focused and productive” year at MSU

<p>There’s a <a href="https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2022/welcome-back-spartans">buzz in the air</a> as fall semester gets underway.</p><p>“I'm incredibly excited. And I think if we were to measure my resting heart rate right now, we'd find that it's higher than it normally is because this is an exciting time for us. And as we start the new year, we're anticipating perhaps our <a href="https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2022/9800-new-spartans-arrive-on-campus-thursday">largest entering class ever</a> in the first-year class, and we have one of our largest transfer student numbers as well. We're excited that people want to come to MSU and that they're very interested in learning and living here. To all the students and parents, I look forward to seeing you on move-in day. It's going to be exciting, and we're going to have a great semester.”</p><p>President Stanley explains the university’s holistic approach to student success and shares its <a href="https://president.msu.edu/communications/messages-statements/2022_community_letters/2022-08-10-covid-safety-expectations.html">approach to COVID</a> this year.</p><p>“The most important part of our approach is always vaccination, and we know that the vaccines help prevent hospitalizations and deaths. They can help mitigate transmission to some degree, and they really are the key to keeping our campus safe. We're asking that all faculty, staff, and students receive a vaccine and at least one booster; that requirement continues. And we had great compliance with the incoming class. Mask wearing is optional now except in some special facilities involving healthcare.</p><p>“But for the rest of the time you have discretion when to wear a mask. And the only other exception I would say is if you know you have COVID, and you're isolating because of that, we will ask you to wear a mask for the first five days, according to CDC regulations. We want to make sure people have access to testing so they can know if they have any of the symptoms of COVID so they're not exposing othe