Four ways campus will look different in fall 2020

New health and safety protocols required new investments in infrastructure across campus

As part of the campus preparedness project, Brandeis has made significant investments ahead of the fall semester: signage, the landscape, workspaces, classrooms, and building heating and ventilation systems, all aimed at enhancing health and safety for the campus community during the remainder of the pandemic.

A mixture of minor construction, maintenance work, and installations have occurred throughout spring and summer in preparation for the safe restart of university activities.

Signage

Brandeis installed new indoor and outdoor signage at locations throughout campus to clearly message the importance of health safety. The signage includes posters at building entries with reminders about submitting health assessments, lawn signs and pathway stickers with a variety of messages about wearing masks, message boards at every campus entry with a list of health safety rules, room maximum occupancy signs, and six-feet distancing floor stickers in every building.

The main entrance to campus now features an LED road sign displaying a daily reminder that anyone visiting campus must wear a mask at all times both indoors and outdoors.

Outdoors

Large tents have been installed on the Great Lawn and outside Skyline and the Usdan Student Center to provide more common space on campus. Most of the tents have been furnished and will primarily serve as relief space for the library and overflow space for dining halls, and secondarily as programmed space for classes and events. 

Additional tent locations at Slosberg and Goldman-Schwartz are planned as well.

Adirondack chairs have been installed across campus to promote spending more time outside.

Social distancing circles have been installed on Chapels Field, adding a new option for community members to come together in groups.

All BranVans have been outfitted with plexiglass barriers as part of the university's health and safety protocols.

More information about traveling by BranVan during Fall 2020 can be found on the Public Safety website.

Classrooms and Workspaces

The university has installed 150 plexiglass barriers at several front-facing locations across campus including the library, dining halls, office spaces, food service and preparation spaces, as well as retail locations like Starbucks and Dunkin.

Some furniture has been removed from classrooms, dining areas and work spaces to de-densify the classroom in accordance with state public health guidelines.

HVAC

Engineers have assessed the majority of campus buildings this summer to confirm that heating and cooling systems are working as designed and to identify measures  for increasing outside air in order to noticeably improve air circulation and quality such as increased frequency of routine maintenance, audit of preventive maintenance, upgraded filters, repair of existing deficiencies, and increasing outside air levels.

Two new respiratory units have been installed in Golding Health Center, effectively splitting the facility in half. 

The new respiratory units operate on their own air handling systems, which have a dedicated exhaust that’s separate from the rest of the health center.