Dear colleagues,
The last couple of weeks hasn't felt like a typical Summer when campus activities slow down a bit. To the contrary, several of you were engaged in multiple discussions and activities around the campus. As we enter the fourth month of remote working, we are collectively addressing and planning for several key activities in the forthcoming months:
- Return to campus for faculty, staff, and students
- Class offerings for Fall
- Improving infrastructure and technology capabilities to serve our students
- Developing Columbia College’s "Call to Action" to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusivity
- Preparing for a difficult budget year
Let me address each of the five major areas mentioned above. A workgroup from faculty, classified staff, and administrators worked on developing guidelines for returning to campus. Thanks to the efforts of Micha Miller, Laureen Campana, Sean Osborn, Kathy Kenna, Raelene Juarez, Trevor Stewart, Jake Radetich, Ryan Brady and Doreen Bass, we have put together the guidelines to be used by anyone who is coming to the campus.
The purpose of the guidelines (attached) is to clearly articulate expectations: following the guidelines will help us reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Tuolumne County reported a few positive cases during the last week or so. Although the rate of infection is low at Tuolumne, we all need to take precaution to keep everyone safe.
Please note that this guideline is different from the plan to return to campus. Currently, many of you are coming to campus to perform your duties – this guideline is applicable to everyone. In consultation with the workgroup, I am planning a three phased re-entry to the campus:
- Phase 1: Those who need to come to the campus to perform their job constitute this group. Apart from the facilities staff, there are faculty members who need to access their office to prepare for Fall classes and instructional assistants who will need to come to campus to prepare the labs for students. All of these staff members are part of Phase 1. I am expecting this to happen sometime in early July.
- Phase 2: Those who need access to the campus occasionally to perform their duties. We are going to develop a schedule for this group of employees in consultation with deans/managers to address issues of overcrowding, staggered hours, and office occupancy to minimize the risk of spreading the virus.
- Phase 3: Planning for the re-entry of students to use campus facilities - such as internet, computers etc.
Irrespective of the phase, when you are coming to campus, you are required to follow the guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact your supervisor or me.
Class offerings for Fall are nearing finalization and I expect them to be up on our website sometime today. This will provide much needed clarity to both students and faculty to plan for Fall.
Our IT and facilities staff are strengthening the technology and physical infrastructure. Among the key projects are improving internet access and installing plexi-glass shields.
Subsequent to our Town Hall meetings, I have received a number of emails from you, talking about the way forward. I have received recommendations from the Cultural Enrichment Committee, thank you for your suggestions and recommendations. Currently, I am working with the Cabinet to ensure the suggestions and recommendations find enough traction and we move to be a better campus.
Finally, to the budget! While we still await the specifics, we know that this is the beginning of a series of tough fiscal years. Our District has been very prudent to use our resources. However, as the fiscally difficult years roll in, we are looking at all possible avenues of increasing efficiency and decreasing expenses to stretch our dollars.
Thank you for being so resilient in these difficult times and staying focused on your task.
Although it seems overwhelming, we have come a long way since March to keep our campus activities going strong and providing our students the help they need. Working together, we will be able to navigate the challenges ahead of us!
Stay well, stay safe.
Santanu
