Keeping our Health Sciences Community Safe

Just as keeping patients safe in our hospitals and clinics is fundamental to the care we provide, so too is keeping students, faculty, and staff safe and secure on our campus. If we cannot do this, nothing else matters.

Today, I am pleased to announce several immediate measures we are taking to significantly improve the security of our health sciences campus and ensure a safe environment for our community of learners, teachers, researchers, and caregivers. 

Beginning Monday, Dec. 2:

  • Public access to the health sciences buildings will be limited from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, to the second floor of Moos at Washington Ave., the second floor of Mayo at Church St., and the third floor of Moos Tower at the Delaware circle. On evenings and weekends, buildings will be closed to the public.
  • Any door in these buildings with a card reader will be accessible by any member of the University community with a U card from 6 a.m. to midnight every day. All other doors will be locked.
  • All U of M staff, faculty, and students will be required to wear their U Card in a visible way like on a lanyard. Security officers will be circulating our health sciences buildings to ensure a visible U Card is present on those in the buildings. M Physicians and Fairview badges will also be acceptable.
  • Any member of the University without a U Card or any visitor without a confirmed appointment (clinic visit, meeting, library research, etc.) will be required to be escorted to their appointments or destinations by a U Card holder.

These steps will increase awareness of who is in our facilities and decrease the amount of public spaces in order to reduce the possibility of threats to the safety of our campus community. These changes will take some adjustment from all of us, but well worth the effort to protect ourselves and each other. 

All faculty, staff, and students on the Twin Cities campus will receive an email with more details this week. More information is available at safe-campus.umn.edu; if you have additional questions, please contact userv@umn.edu.

My thanks to Mike Berthelsen, vice president, University Services and his team for moving quickly to implement these steps, and all our health sciences colleagues for their collaboration on this important effort.