Dear Sir or Madam,
Dear Colleagues and Students,

We are writing you today to provide a look ahead to the upcoming winter semester 2022/23. One thing is already clear – the coronavirus pandemic and the energy crisis are sure to accompany and challenge us in the coming semester.

After almost two and a half years, we have amassed extensive experience on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and developed various infection protection measures which have allowed us to conduct practically all operations in-person at the WWU today. Since the summer semester, we all have adopted an especially effective measure with a high degree of self-discipline: We wear masks! We wish to underscore the importance of this slogan. Please protect yourself and others by continuing to wear a medical facemask in all WWU buildings.

Now the energy crisis is presenting us with new challenges. This crisis is having a direct impact on the WWU, and in response we will be introducing various measures to save energy in the coming weeks and months. Some energy-saving objectives and measures are very concretely formulated in federal and state regulations. But we also intend to take advantage of further energy-saving possibilities in various departments and facilities. We are grateful for the many efforts in the facilities and the personal contributions of every member of the WWU to meet this daunting challenge. Many of the measures – both less and more obvious ones alike – have already been implemented. For example, we have lowered the temperature in offices to 19 °C, and the Schloss will no longer be illuminated at night. This does not apply, of course, to safety lighting (path illumination, streetlights etc.). In the coming months, you may notice these and similar changes at numerous locations around the University.

We are all aware that we find ourselves once again in an exceptional situation with potentially serious social ramifications, and that we all must do our part to master the situation. We should be prepared for further restrictions in the winter semester which could impact our comfort zones in our everyday work, instruction, research and study at the WWU – for example in the form of noticeably chillier temperatures in classrooms and offices.

Our crisis management team is currently drafting additional measures. We will inform you shortly before the semester begins of any further decisions on energy security and how these will affect our general operations during the semester. Until then, we wish you all the best for your final preparations ahead of the upcoming winter semester.

We look forward to seeing you all again in October at the latest.
Sincerely yours,

Prof. Dr Johannes Wessels, Rector
Matthias Schwarte, Head of Administration