Yukon University welcomed students back to Ayamdigut campus in Whitehorse last week.

Last Wednesday was move-in day for students in campus housing followed by an Amazing Race-style contest to familiarize residents with the campus and downtown last Thursday.

Orientation Day featured campus tours, information sessions, games in the gym, arts and crafts in the Pit and tea, bannock and stories with elders at Roddy’s Camp.

The first day of classes is today, with free coffee this morning, an ice-cream social on Wednesday, a second campfire social on Thursday, and a McIntyre Creek trail walk on Friday.

This semester, 60 per cent of classes are in-person or contain an in-person component and 40 per cent are online.

Credit student registrations are up nine per cent over this time last year, with 789 students compared with 716 in fall 2020.

Forty-four per cent of registered students are under 25 and 56 per cent are over 25.

There are 121 international students registered for the fall semester.

Campus housing is back to full capacity, with 108 students and their families living on campus this semester.

Student bus passes are on sale at the campus store for full- and part-time students at a cost of $31.50 for the entire semester.

Students are encouraged to check https://YukonU.ca/Covid-19 regularly for updates on campus health and safety measures and reach out to the Connect2YukonU team with questions or to learn about services and supports.

As well, additional safety measures for Ayamdigut campus kicked in today.

“Science, and our lived experience of the pandemic thus far, has shown us that vaccinations—alongside other measures like masking and physical distancing—are the most effective ways to protect against COVID-19 and keep each other safe,” Dr. Janet Welch wrote in a letter to the students. She is the provost and vice-president academic and chairs the university’s COVID steering committee.

“At peak times, our main Ayamdigut campus building in Whitehorse serves over 1000 people each day, including children, seniors, First Nations elders, people travelling in from communities beyond Whitehorse, as well as students, faculty and staff,” Welch added.

“We have a responsibility to ensure our campus is a safe and healthy environment for everyone who accesses this space and this includes ensuring our campus is not a space where COVID-19 can be easily transmitted.

“While we have mandated masks be worn at all times (Aug. 17), we recognize maintaining physical distancing through this busy building is challenging; therefore, Yukon University will have an additional measure for weekday peak times.”

For the main building, only entrances 1 and 5 will be open and screening stations will be set up, she said.

“Anyone entering the building must complete a standard COVID-19 questionnaire and have a non-invasive temperature check,” she wrote.

“While everyone can get screened, we will have a fast-track lane at each of the two entrances for people who have been double vaccinated.”

This measure does not affect campus housing, the YukonU Research Centre (YRC), or the Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining (CNIM) buildings where daily traffic is considerably lower and the safe six plus one can be maintained.

Similarly, the 12 campuses beyond Ayamdigut and the downtown Innovation + Entrepreneurship Centre have lower traffic and will follow the safe six plus one.

Additionally, campuses will continue to work with landlords and First Nations and municipal governments to ensure campus protocols align with and respect local pandemic health and safety measures.

“We appreciate the co-operation and patience of students, employees and the public as we implement this new safety measure,” Welch wrote.

“We continue to explore mandatory testing for non-vaccinated individuals and may move to implement this in the future. In the meantime, we encourage the YukonU community to get vaccinated.

“We are confident that our new, additional screening will provide an extra layer of safety in our highest-traffic building. We believe, at this time, this is the strongest measure to ensure everyone’s health and safety in such a widely accessed and accessible public building such as our main campus,” she added.

“We will be implementing a process for voluntary confidential self-disclosure of vaccination status for all those who access the campus,” Welch wrote.

“The intent is to give access to more entrances for those that are vaccinated. More information will be shared as it becomes available.”

The university will work to accommodate students or employees who have a valid medical reason or religious exemption or are unable or unwilling to be vaccinated, she added.