Message from President Wells

October 18, 2020

New Mexico Tech Students, Staff, and Faculty,

The Governor of New Mexico has a statewide executive order in place that limits gatherings to no more than five people to limit the spread of COVID-19. It has come to my attention that anywhere between 50-100 New Mexico Tech students gathered this past weekend at multiple local, off-campus parties. As a consequence, I am physically closing the New Mexico Tech campus for Monday, October 19, 2020, for the day as a precautionary measure and to best limit any potential exposure to COVID-19. This campus closure will also provide critical time to allow our administration to understand the depth of the issues resulting from this activity.

Students

No students, whether undergraduate or graduate, should come to campus on Monday. Students or roommates of students who attended these events must immediately go into self-isolation until further notice. For the health and safety of your fellow students, as well as NMT’s staff and faculty, you must report your attendance at these events to the Dean of Students:

Dr. Peter Phaiah
Dean of Students
(575) 835-5953
deanofstudents@nmt.edu

Students currently residing on campus are allowed to remain in their residences, and for those students, food service will be available as grab-and-go from the Fidel cafeteria. However, for those students who attended these events and are quarantined, they should not leave their residences and instead contact the Residential Life Office (575-835-5900, residential_life@nmt.edu), which will provide meals.

We will attempt to hold all scheduled classes online, and all on-campus activities are cancelled for the day. Classes normally held online scheduled on Mondays will be held as normally scheduled.

Faculty and Staff

All employees are not to enter campus and are encouraged to work from home if possible. If necessary, your supervisor will contact you with further instruction when it becomes available. Contact your supervisor should you have specific questions regarding this closure.

You will be contacted by the end of the workday tomorrow regarding further procedures and protocols.

It is regrettable that I have to take this extreme measure due to the irresponsibility of a few.

Stephen G. Wells
President
New Mexico Tech