Students hang out on the lower quad on a beautiful fall afternoon during Homecoming week on October 9, 2020, in St. Paul.

Dear Tommies: Gratitude from USG

We, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), express our gratitude to all members of the St. Thomas community that have played a role in the return to campus this fall.

To the faculty, thank you for adapting your teaching pedagogies to accommodate socially distant classrooms this fall. This alteration was no small task and could have included rewriting syllabi or learning how to use new technology to deliver course content to the students best. We appreciate the understanding and flexibility that you are extending to us, your students.

To the staff, thank you for the swift modification of our common spaces, student engagement opportunities and student support services to appropriately meet the guidelines outlined in the university’s response plan and the Minnesota Department of Health. Additionally, the sacrifice that you make to ensure that our community is appropriately functioning does not go without notice; we applaud every one of you for continuing to come to the university amid a global pandemic.

To the students, thank you for being open to taking classes in new forms, wearing your face coverings, maintaining an appropriate physical distance, and understanding how important of a role you play to the health of our community. We too are students, and understand that this can be challenging but know that we can and will get through this together.

To the many others that make up our community but may not feel they fall under the stated categories, we appreciate you and your contributions during this time.

Let's continue to keep health and safety at the forefront of all that we do.

Wishing you good health and safety during this current pandemic.

The Undergraduate Student Government