January 8, 2021
Suspension of Extracurricular Activities under the Declaration of a State of Emergency
Recently, the number of new cases of COVID-19 in the Greater Tokyo Area has been increasing, andimplementation of infection control measures are strongly urged. On January 7, 2021, the government has
declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures. In response to this, the Universityof Tokyo Activity Restrictions Index for Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 will be raised to "Level 1" fromJanuary 11 until February 7 (tentative), and the stage of Komaba campus will be shifted from “Yellow” to“Orange” from January 11.
Until the middle of December 2020, the cases of infection in the college and graduate school of Arts andSciences were extremely limited (for graduate students and staff, no one has been infected yet as of today).
First and foremost, as Dean of the college and graduate school of Arts and Sciences, I would like to express
my heartfelt respect as well as my appreciation to all students for sincere efforts you made to avoid spreadingof the infection. I think you did well despite difficulties during the ongoing outbreak in the streets (Everyone
obtained passing scores for the "test" written in the document dated July 31 last year) .
However, there were some newly infected cases reported in the college/graduate school or the university during
year-end and new-year holiday season. Among these, for undergraduate students of the College of Arts andSciences, all cases have been infected off-campus, but some of the cases were related to extracurricularactivities. Also, many cases of infection in extracurricular activities have been reported at other universities
and high schools.
From January to March, regular examinations, graduation judgements and entrance examination are scheduled,and universities and graduate schools need to carry out these academic events without delay as educational
institutions. Also, under the government’s policy, it is requested to pay greater attention toward extracurricularactivities and students are prohibited from engaging in extracurricular activities during Stage Orange inprinciple. Therefore, the activities should be gradually reduced from today, and from January 11 onwards, weask you to suspend extracurricular activities as a rule. However, considering that it may be difficult toaccommodate to the change urgently, we may approve such exceptional cases as participations in matches
against outside groups which cannot be canceled or bringing sports and other equipment in and out bycompleting the required procedure. The suspension will be continued until the state of emergency is lifted(although it is set until February 7, there is a possibility of extension or cancellation in the middle). Thus, we
aim to achieve the objectives in education and research at the university while preventing further spread of theinfections. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to students participating in extracurricular activities.
Regarding specific preventive measures against infection, please carefully read the message from theuniversity issued on January 7 and check the website of the university health center. I continue to be gratefulfor your understanding and cooperation.
OHTA Kunihiro
Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Tokyo