In recognition of the continuing challenges posed by COVID-19, the College is modifying the S/F policy for the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters. The changes include:

• Temporarily increasing the number of S/F grades allowed to two courses in a semester.
• Extending the deadline to request S/F grades until the fourth week of the following semester. Note that this change extended the deadline from previous communications.
• Allow students to use one S grade to satisfy part of their cluster requirements if the course was taken in fall 2020 or spring 2021.

More details on these policy changes will be posted on the Registrar’s website early next week.

In addition to meeting with your academic advisor, you are encouraged to consult the Advising Weeks website as you prepare for spring course registration. The website features resources for help selecting courses and the registration schedule. The Advising Weeks program runs from November 9—December 10.

Registration opens Monday, December 7. Prepare for registration by completing onboarding tasks, checking for holds, and creating and saving your schedule in UR Student. Learn more and see the schedule by class year on the registrar’s website.

Students with outstanding balances from the fall semester will be held out of spring semester registration until their balance has been resolved. If you have a fall balance, you are encouraged to contact the Bursar’s Office to arrange payment of what is owed. Students interested in aid options available to assist in resolving their balance are encouraged to contact their financial aid counselor.

A reminder that quarantine will be required for all River Campus and Eastman School of Music undergraduate students living in residence halls who are returning to campus in spring 2021 and who are coming from any non-contiguous state or from any CDC Level 2 or 3 country. The contiguous states excluded from quarantine are Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Read about the current guidance from the New York State Governor’s office, which is subject to change.

Students are reporting that they have fallen victim to some clever phishing campaigns recently. To improve University protections against phishing, all student emails to Gmail (@u.rochester.edu) will be routed through an additional layer of security (Proofpoint) as of Tuesday, December 1. As a result:

• Emails received from a sender external to the University of Rochester email systems will be tagged with an EXT for External in the subject of the email.
• Additional spam filters will remove suspected emails automatically. You will now receive an “End User Digest” daily at 2 p.m. EST, listing the emails that have been quarantined and allowing you to release any valid emails.
• All attachments will now be scanned for malware, certain filetypes that are flagged as high-risk will automatically be removed. The process of scanning may delay email delivery for up to seven minutes.

Learn more about these new features. If you have questions about this change, contact the University IT Help Desk at UnivITHelp@rochester.edu or (585) 275-2000.

• Monday, November 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.
• Tuesday, November 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.