What You Need to Know in Fall 2020: Get the Message ‘4 Maryland’

Look up at the Stamp, sit down in a classroom or turn a corner anywhere on campus, and you’ll see signs of a widespread new campaign at the university encouraging Terps this fall to practice safe behaviors “4 Maryland” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

The tenets of “4 Maryland” are grounded in recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health authorities; they’re familiar to everyone nearly six months into the pandemic: Wear a face covering. Wash your hands. Keep at least 6 feet from others. Stay home if you’re sick. 

“The single most important action each of you can take is consistently adhering to our 4 Maryland guidelines,” President Darryll J. Pines said. 

That might mean following one-way traffic in a stairwell, disinfecting a research lab or finding seats distanced from others in a dining hall.

The Office of Strategic Communications worked with the Return to Campus Operations Working Group on this health information campaign to produce dozens of vehicles spreading those messages: signs for hallways, at elevators and in restrooms; table clings and hallway directional arrows, tape to cordon off lecture hall rows and seat markers; table tents and digital screens. 

Units across campus customized signage for their facilities, too, such as residence halls, libraries, dining halls and Shuttle-UM buses. And a new PSA video series featured on social media showcase Terp students, faculty and staff sharing why they wear a mask. 

But outside is where you’ll find the boldest, biggest and most memorable reminders to do the right thing 4 Maryland this semester, including in the original M Circle, on McKeldin Mall, draped across the front of the Stamp Student Union and on the face of bronze Testudo statues. See images of these new installations below: