BATON ROUGE - Interim LSU President Tom Galligan wrote a letter to LSU students and staff Thursday, welcoming them back to campus in the near future and reminding them of COVID-19 health restrictions in place.

Student Body President, Stone Cox, also signed the letter to the thousands of Tigers awaiting a return to school.

LSU has already announced its coronavirus policies; Click HERE for previous WBRZ reports about campus health. 

Read the letter below:

Dear students, 

In less than two weeks, you will begin arriving on our beautiful LSU campus for the start of the fall semester. For many of you, it will be a long-awaited return to our campus community. For many others, it will be your first college experience, which will include moving into a residential hall and beginning to learn your way around campus while navigating the complex new world we live in due to COVID-19.

All of us—your faculty, staff, and peers—are excited to welcome back our outstanding students. However, we cannot stress to you enough that our ability to continue in-person classes and activities throughout the fall semester depends on all of us strictly adhering to health and safety regulations. This means that we must practice physical distancing, wear masks or face coverings, thoroughly wash our hands often, use hand sanitizer, and avoid crowded spaces. Now is the time to start or continue these critical habits. The healthier we are when we arrive on campus, the healthier we will stay.

We’re taking many precautions as well as enacting new policies and procedures to ensure you remain safe and healthy during the fall semester, but we know this pandemic isn’t going away any time soon. We also know that physical distancing and taking other health precautions can be inconvenient. But it’s vital that we all do our part—together—to protect one another from COVID-19 and ensure that we’re able to participate in a physical learning environment that is safe for everyone. Remember: your adherence to university, CDC, and state guidelines doesn’t just protect you, it protects everyone around you as well.

Today, we’re pledging to do our part to protect the LSU campus community and keep our fellow Tigers in good health, and we’re asking you to do the same. We all have a role to play in the fight against COVID-19 and we must commit to being responsible and accountable members of our LSU community. Please join us in pledging to demonstrate our pride in LSU every day by:

• Following public health guidelines in place to help protect myself and others.
• Protecting myself and others in high-traffic areas of campus or situations where physical distancing isn’t possible to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
• Keeping my hands clean and sanitized while on campus, around my community, and at home.
• Adhering to capacity limits in social situations to prevent high-spread scenarios.
• Monitoring my symptoms daily and following protocols designed to keep me and my community healthy.
• Modifying my actions and encouraging others to do the same as guidelines and recommendations adapt over time.

Please join us in taking the pledge at lsu.edu/roadmap/pledge.

By taking the pledge to help protect LSU, you’re accepting responsibility for yourself and your actions to do your best to prevent the spread of COVID-19. All of us at LSU appreciate your continued understanding and cooperation, and we’re looking forward to seeing you on campus very soon. In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.

Warmly,

Thomas C. Galligan, Jr.
Interim LSU President and Professor of Law

Stone Cox
Student Body President and LSU Board of Supervisors Student Representative