Updated: September 4

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General Guidelines

Large gatherings have been largely responsible for COVID-19 outbreaks at college campuses across the country – and in some cases, have been responsible for the suspension of in-person classes.  In the interest of keeping each other safe,  At NYU, prohibits all non-essential in-person gatherings at this time. Essential gatherings are for the purposes of core academic activities (e.g., classes), core essential research, or facilitating the health and safety of the University community and cannot be accomplished in a virtual/remote setting.

Essential gatherings must maintain physical distancing of 6 ft (2 m) between individuals and occupancy cannot exceed 50% of the room capacity. Chairs, tables, and other furniture should be removed or rearranged or visual cue marks in meeting rooms should be added to support physical distancing practices. Food and beverages should not be served unless necessary, in which case, please review these additional catering and food guidelines.

Additional guidelines:

  • All participants at the event will be required to wear a face covering
  • Only internal (departmental, academic, student) events will be reserved at this time. All external events and co-sponsored events are suspended until further notice
  • Event requests should be submitted with the understanding that they may need to be canceled/changed if the impact of COVID-19 persists or due to the University’s need for space; contact the event venue as hours are likely to be reduced
  • The use of media equipment (lavaliers, headsets, etc.) may be limited, so ask the venue of their media protocol. Production meetings to discuss logistics should be done virtually
  • Walkthroughs of event spaces should be discontinued. We encourage venue managers to utilize cloud-based online softwares such as AllSeated or Social Tables
  • The host of the event is responsible for ensuring guests are adhering to safety guidelines and should include communication on applicable websites and social media platforms to ensure greater compliance
  • It is the responsibility of the event sponsor to manage the event, the attendance, and flow of people in a space, and also to provide visitors with the necessary facial coverings
  • We discourage the use of name badges in order to reduce touchpoints
  • Guests are encouraged to take the stairs. Elevator access priority will be given to those in need of physical assistance
  • When possible, the hosts should pre-register guests to avoid registration lines and assist with potential capacity concerns
    • If guests cannot be pre-registered, the host will need to allocate more time in their reservation for registration
    • If guests can pre-register, confirmation emails should be presented via mobile or print outs and displayed at the registration table
  • During intermissions or breaks, guests will not be allowed to congregate inside or outside of bathrooms or hallways. Intermissions and breaks may have to be longer to allow time for physically distanced guest movement
  • Timing between events will be increased for thorough cleaning so access to the event space before your allocated event set-up time may be limited

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Catering/Food Guidelines

  • If the event will be catered or served, there will be no buffet-style self-serve food or beverage stations. Instead food must be staff-served meal stations or beverage stations with enhanced PPE or individually wrapped / box food (i.e. to grab and go)
  • Dinners/Galas will be strongly discouraged for the Fall 2020 semester
  • The names of servers and their assigned locations and duties must be retained in case it is needed for contact tracing
  • Compostable drop-off catering will ensure delivery staff have no direct contact with clients. Clear communication will be given to clients in advance should they need to reach out day-of
  • Text2Solve SMS platform will be implemented for day-of issues/feedback
  • Associates wash hands and change gloves every 30 minutes, or less
  • External caterers should communicate their safety protocols prior to an order being placed
  • No communal sharing of food or family style meals is permitted at events, such as pizza, cake or self-serve appetizers. If feasible, have the restaurant or caterer pre-cut the cake slices or pizza. Then have one person at your event wash their hands, don gloves and a mask and serve the pre-cut slices of pizza or cake

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Student Events

  • Student events will adhere to the above event guidelines
  • All students club events and programming are encouraged to make their events/meetings virtual
  • Protests/vigils will require all participants to adhere to physical distancing guidelines

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Religious Events

Religious events should follow the same space and distancing guidelines as described on this page.

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Keep each other Safe

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