Rutgers to open all housing for fall semester, bus routes remain limited

Rutgers—New Brunswick Chancellor Christopher J. Molloy sent an email last Friday regarding housing and registration for the Fall 2021 semester.

He said course pre-registration starts April 19 at 9:00 a.m. and continues through April 27, remaining online through Aug. 31, according to the email.

Class periods on the Rutgers—New Brunswick campuses will be staggered, with first period starting at 8:10 a.m. for the College Avenue campus, 8:40 a.m. for the Busch and Livingston campuses and 9:15 a.m. for the Cook and Douglass campuses, according to the Office of the Registrar’s website.

In addition, travel time between campuses must be at least 50 minutes for daytime classes and 40 minutes for classes after 4:30 p.m., according to the website.

Molloy said most course sections will offer in-person instruction, though there will also be some online classes depending on the course and school, according to the email. Classrooms and student study spaces such as in libraries will have reduced capacity in accordance with public health guidelines to enable social distancing.

The Daily Targum previously reported approximately 75 percent of course sections at Rutgers—New Brunswick will have in-person instruction while 25 percent will remain full online. Classrooms will be given 30 to 50 percent of their normal capacity depending on size and configuration.

“Our classrooms, student housing and in-person events and activities will be occupied to the capacity levels allowed by state and federal guidelines and our community’s adherence to health and safety protocols,” Molloy said, according to the email.

Additionally, the undergraduate housing application for the Fall 2021 semester is now open until April 19, according to the email.

Rutgers will make all housing options available for the 2021-2022 academic year with full capacity, according to a University-wide email sent last Friday by Residence Life. This includes graduate student housing, Molloy said, according to the first email.

Changes to housing include ten-day quarantine and isolation spaces for residents if a student, or a "close contact” of a student, tests positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and a temporary no guests policy where on-campus residents may only have guests who live in the same residence hall as them, according to the Residence Life website.

Molloy said the University plans to open the One Stop Student Services Center on Busch campus next semester, which will address student needs regarding financial aid, student accounts and registration, according to the email.

“This center will allow you to easily manage the non-academic, educational business side of student life, and will remove many of the barriers involved in navigating multiple offices across Rutgers–New Brunswick,” he said, according to the email.

He said additional details about the transition on-campus such as registering for vaccinations, planning on-campus programs and participating in fraternities or sororities will come from Student Affairs over the coming weeks, according to the email.

The University has not made a formal announcement regarding transportation, though it has released the Rutgers bus schedule for the Fall 2021 semester. It includes a reduced number of bus stops for each campus, with none of the buses going to Cook campus.

“The new routes will reduce the amount of diesel needed, and, since they are shorter in distance overall, will help the University transition the Rutgers bus system to buses that are electric,” University spokesperson Carissa Sestito said. “This will take many years, but the new routes will help with this transition.”

The spokesperson said the bus routes can be adjusted if the University deems it necessary.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said the fall 2021 bus schedule is the same as the spring 2021 schedule.