Living On Campus Open House
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May 18, 2020 - Housing and Dining Virtual Open house with UNC Provost Mark Anderson, Jenna Finley, Ed.D. Executive Director of Campus Community & Climate and Tobias Guzmán, Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs
Bryson Kelly (00:00:00):
Hello everyone. My name is Bryson Kelly and I am the interim Associate Director of
Recruitment for the UNC Office of Admissions. Today, we are so excited to connect
you with three dedicated campus leaders who will share with you UNC's approach to
the fall 2020 semester. As you know, things continue to change quickly as a result
of COVID-19 and we will do anything possible we can to answer your questions. During
the program, all mics will be muted and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions
using the Q&A button at the bottom of the screen. You can begin asking questions using
this tool now. We will attempt to have all questions answered either in the Q&A function,
live via our panelists or through a follow-up email once the program concludes. With
that, I'd like to introduce you to our moderator for the next hour, Leah Schultz.
Leah is our Regional Admission Counselor working in Denver and Leah is also a UNC
alum. Leah, take it away.
Leah Schultz (00:00:58):
All right. Hi everybody. Thank you all so much for joining us and to all our panelists
here as well. Yes, I graduated from UNC and Housing and Dining has a special place
in my heart as well because I did work in housing and dining all four years I was
a student. So I'm pleased to introduce today these UNC leaders and mentors in academic
affairs, student affairs and campus, community, and climate. So we have Dr. Tobias
Guzman who serves as the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Chief Diversity
Officer at UNC. Dr. Guzman approaches his work with a focus on building relationships
and fostering a culture of care. The central [inaudible 00:01:39] to have a culture
of care philosophy where students and their experiences are a top priority. Dr. Guzman
works diligently to provide students with the necessary resources they need to progress
along their path to success. And lastly, on a personal note, Dr. Guzman is an alum
of UNC, holds a black belt in karate with 30 years of experience, and has research
interests in equity and social justice impacts on communities and preventing student
departure in college and universities.
Leah Schultz (00:02:10):
And then with us, we also have Dr. Jenna Finley, who serves as the Executive Director
of Student Affairs, responsible for housing and residential education and dining services
at UNC. She arrived at UNC in 2002, after working at CU Boulder, University of Wisconsin
Stevens Point and Ball State University. She holds an undergraduate degree in social
work, a Master's degree in student affairs leadership and a doctorate in education
focused on higher education leadership. Dr. Finley's [inaudible 00:02:42] has focused
on developing inclusive communities focused on student success and support and exceptional
service. Dr. Finley lives here in Greeley, Colorado. She has three children aged 25,
20 and 13, and is an avid runner having completed several ultra marathons in the past
few years.
Leah Schultz (00:03:01):
And also with us today, our final panelist, is UNC's Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Mark
Anderson. Dr. Anderson joined UNC as the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic
Affairs in spring of 2019. Dr. Anderson's most recently served as the Dean of the
College of Science and Mathematics at Kennesaw State. As Provost, Dr. Anderson oversees
everything from enrollment management to advising. So I'm grateful to have all of
these panelists with us here today and also all of you who have joined us. We have
over 100 future Bears and their families here. I'm going to let Dr. Guzman kick things
off by further introducing himself and telling you more about living on campus at
UNC, what's happening today and where we're headed. Jenna will also join him in providing
additional comments and updates, and then all three of our panelists will answer your
questions about housing, dining and academic affairs.
Tobias Guzman (00:04:05):
Thank you, Leah. I appreciate it. Hello, soon to be Bears. Welcome to my home. I'm
so happy we are getting these opportunities to talk with you about the burning questions
that you probably have some sleepless nights about, or while you're doing your work
you're probably thinking, "I need to ask UNC this question." I hope you see how committed
we are to you by spending time answering your questions with authenticity and genuineness.
Frankly, please consider this as your time. Personally. I hope you see me as a valid
resource to you. I've been at UNC for 20 years, lived in Greeley for 24 years, which
includes my undergrad time being here. I also met my wife here who's also an alum
of the audiology and communications department, as well as a graduate of the Master's
program in addition to spending an opportunity to have good times in our city, which
is a bustling city.
Tobias Guzman (00:05:14):
Many times people don't know that Greeley has a lot to offer. We're a town of about
100,000, which when I was a student here, it was pretty much a different place. So
we were probably in our 30,000 range. So we have grown drastically. So I have a good
assessment of what goes on here at UNC, within the community of Greeley, and most
importantly, the impact our faculty and staff have on students. So thank you so much
for your time. As you know, we have a safer at home phase that we are all working
in and to be very honest, the whole world including higher education has been turned
upside down. And the analogy would be is that we're trying to put all the pieces back
in, sometimes asking for different pieces. Sometimes the pieces have completely shaped
to a different shape and we're trying to fit it all in and as we affectionately call
it, the new normal.
Tobias Guzman (00:06:21):
That comes along with trying to transform our campus to be ready for your students,
and you, when you come in August. Even though it seems like it's a little bit down
the road, it will be here before you know it. We are tracking, every day, the CDC
recommendations as well as our state and local recommendations on how best to manage
our on-campus living as well as, you'll hear from the Provost, how best to manage
our classrooms and the ultimate goal of having your student graduate from UNC and
achieve their academic pursuits. Jenna and I take a strong approach to blend our understanding
of this situation by using the business world. So meeting with hotel operations and
the hospitality industry to make sure that we're taking best practices away from them,
as well as contribute to them on what we're doing on campus, on our housing and dining
and making sure that we are offering the best and safe opportunities for students
as they move in, in fall.
Tobias Guzman (00:07:38):
We want your students to be back in the fall. We're getting ready for them. I can't
say that we are ready, but we're getting ready for them. And we want them to be safe.
We've responded to COVID-19 in very supportive ways for our students and our families.
We also know that we have families that are living out of state, and sometimes it
brings a little worry and a little bit of concern. So we invite you all the time to
email us, to call us, to have a conversation with us so that we can always ease your
concerns. With that I'm going to turn it over to Jenna to give you a little bit of
a sense about Fall 2020. Jenna.
Jenna Finley (00:08:21):
Hello everyone. Again, my name is Jenna Finley. I'm responsible for housing and dining
at UNC, and we are about eight to nine weeks into Colorado's stay at home order and
now into the safer at home phase of that order. I know things vary state to state.
When we entered that stay at home order, we moved to online course delivery, but we
had about 600 students choose to stay and live with us. And I will say though, we
had to make a lot of changes pretty quickly and learned a lot along the way about
how to keep students safe, how to keep them engaged, and have a good understanding
of what they could and couldn't do in these circumstances. Now, as we look to the
fall and returning to campus, we're starting to get an idea what that might look like.
Knowing that as the last few months have been for all of us, things change pretty
quickly, but we are starting to make some plans.
Jenna Finley (00:09:29):
I think what we anticipate, for example, is that move in, which used to take place
in a day or two, it has to take place a little more slowly. So we anticipate bringing
students back in August a little bit earlier at a slower pace so that we can maintain
social distancing during that time. We are planning right now and looking at how do
we enter and exit buildings and what parts of buildings can people go in and out of
safely, how many people can we have and doing things like making sure roommates aren't
moving in at the same time.
Jenna Finley (00:10:09):
With that, we also anticipate limiting the number of guests that help and family members
that help move students in, which I know will be hard for many of you. I think one
of my favorite pieces of the year is to watch families move their students in and
all the feelings that that brings and having college age students myself, I know that
that's a change that families may have a hard time with, but we really do anticipate
that we have to limit the number of people that are in a residence hall at any one
time.
Jenna Finley (00:10:48):
We are also anticipating that we are going to need to ask a lot of our students in
terms of what they are responsible for to be a part of a learning community in this
way. It's about keeping them as safe as possible in these circumstances and also protecting
the public health of the rest of our community, our faculty and staff. And so we anticipate
some policy and rule changes that are reflective of what our governor is asking us
currently, what CDC recommendations are, and a few other organizations that we consult
regularly. We are consulting with some experts, people with epidemiologists background,
public health background, to really look at each of our spaces.
Jenna Finley (00:11:34):
If you've been on our campus, you know our residence halls are not cookie cutter and
that means that we can't have a cookie cutter approach in terms of how many people
can be in any one particular space, any one particular student room. And so that's
why I can't tell you today, will my student be in a single room, for example. Will
they have suite mates? Because we need that guidance. What I can tell you is that
no matter how students are being housed, they will likely have quite a bit of personal
responsibility in terms of thinking about keeping their spaces clean, keeping frequently
touched items clean. We're going to be having some recommendations of what students
bring to campus. We can anticipate that wearing a mask is going to be a part of our
future, and so what I'm telling students is to think about that wardrobe of masks.
Jenna Finley (00:12:31):
If you are a student that is great at doing laundry every day, bring one mask. But
we know that most students, they just aren't going to have time to wash their mask
every night. And that being said, if they're spending time, hours out in public, changing
the mask throughout the day is also something that's recommended. As you know, those
masks get hot and changing them is a good idea. So you'll expect to get communication
from us about things along those lines. What to bring, what we will do in terms of
cleaning supplies. But we are going to need students to bring some of their own cleaning
supplies, some of their own masks, just anticipating what we are going to need. We
are also anticipating the need to limit guests, which is a big part of the student
experience is having friends come in and out of their room.
Jenna Finley (00:13:33):
We have family members or people from another residence [inaudible 00:13:37] able
to come visit. And that right now, based on our state orders and what I look at around
the country, is that we are going to need to limit guests for students until things
change. I think a few other things will be not having a lot of large group events.
So that's going to look a little bit different, but we're also making a lot of plans
on how do we build relationship and community in the context of being socially distant
from one another. As I know a lot of you may be familiar with, we have peer resident
assistants that are on floors and their job is to facilitate community and enforce
policy and just support students' success. That's going to look different this year,
but it's still going to happen.
Jenna Finley (00:14:33):
Those relationships are going to be one-on-one and virtual. All students will have
a time to touch base on a one-on-one level with students. And they're also going to
be placed into a small group and we're going to facilitate relationship building.
I think one of the things we have to balance, as I'm sure you've thought about, is
it's one thing to be safe from COVID and think about everything you need to do from
a public health standpoint. Another piece is just the transition and students typically
transitioned to college sometimes struggle with homesickness, loneliness, isolation
already. And we can anticipate in this environment, that's a little more difficult.
So we are making plans on how do we facilitate relationship, connection and friendship,
that sense of community, even when we can't do it in the traditional way. So right
now I have staff making plans for that as well.
Jenna Finley (00:15:33):
So as much as I can't tell you exactly what's going to happen, I can tell you that
we do anticipate being able to communicate room assignments and move in plans in June.
I'm hoping for the middle of June. We're developing plans right now. I also know that
we're about in the same place as everyone else across the country. We have an international
organization as well as gather as state and regional housing and dining professionals
and talk on a weekly to biweekly basis about where we're all at. There's been a few
international surveys done and to take the pulse of where campuses are at in their
decision making, and the last survey only about 17% had finalized plans. That is really
because the guidelines have continued to change and we want to make sure that we have
some decisions that are grounded in experts expertise, and we're doing what's in the
best interest of student learning and health and safety.
Tobias Guzman (00:16:48):
So with that, we'd also like to introduce you to Provost Mark Anderson. If you have
questions related to the academic enterprise or simple questions about classes and
classrooms, I'll turn it over to Provost Anderson.
Mark Anderson (00:17:09):
Thank you, Tobias. Just real quickly. The university experience is not just taking
classes. It's not just living in the dormitories. It's not just the dining. It's everything.
And so how the academic experience, the classes you take, interacts with your housing
experience, your dining experience and all the other student life sorts of things,
that's the university experience. That's what makes University of Northern Colorado
unique and look forward to seeing you here in the fall and happy to answer any questions
about the academic experience, but especially how the academic and the housing and
student life experiences overlap.
Tobias Guzman (00:17:57):
Okay.
Leah Schultz (00:17:57):
All right.
Tobias Guzman (00:17:58):
Leah, I think this is back to you with questions.
Leah Schultz (00:18:01):
All right. Thank you. Thank you for our lovely presentation. We're starting to get
some questions roll in, but we've also had questions that were filled out on the registration
form. So while we wait on some of those, I will also read some of these. So I know
we had talked a little bit about how, if there is any change in rooms, that communication
will hopefully come out mid-June. We have some questions though, about students. Am
I going to be living in a single room? Will I keep the same room assignment or will
it change because of COVID-19? And how big is the change? If I'm in tier one housing
will I end up in tier six housing?
Jenna Finley (00:18:50):
A lot of that is yet to be decided. We realize that students have all picked their
spaces at this point in time. There is that potential that we are going to be making
some changes and reassigning people. Whether that's to accomplish more single rooms,
we also have to be thinking about things like having enough space for isolation rooms.
If people were to become sick we have to have enough space for that, which complicates
things a little bit more. So, yes, I anticipate that there'll be some changes that
need to be made, and those would be communicated, I'm anticipating by middle of June.
Tobias Guzman (00:19:28):
One thing we can commit to is making sure that all first year students and transfer
students do have a place to live. So I don't want any fear or concern to be out there
that we will not house first year students or transfer students. So our commitment
is to making sure you have housing.
Leah Schultz (00:19:53):
Yeah. Thank you. And also, so we do have a couple of questions as well about students
either trying to originally complete their housing contract for the first go around
or potentially switch rooms and they aren't seeing many, if any, rooms available.
Are we going to have any open up? How can they get into a room in housing?
Jenna Finley (00:20:13):
Space is a little bit tight right now. It really changes on a daily basis and as students
cancel, things change so it is possible to reassign. Unfortunately right now in the
system, they just need to keep checking. There are some spaces that are held offline
at this point in time so we do have those isolation type spaces held, but we do anticipate
being, again, having enough space available. There's just a little bit of limitation
at this time period. Over the next few weeks, things typically open up as people make
changes, particularly our renewal students and held spaces.
Leah Schultz (00:21:11):
Thank you. And then we also have some questions as well about what will happen if
there is another shelter in place? Or if my roommate ends up needing to be quarantined,
will everybody in the room slash suite need to be quarantined? And when will we be
able to come back to campus to get our things and will we get a refund or a credit,
if that is the case?
Jenna Finley (00:21:37):
With the shelter in place that happened or stay at home order that happened in the
state of Colorado this year, we did not close. So we allowed any student that wanted
or needed to stay, to be able to stay. We also were in a somewhat unique position
where that stay at home order came during spring break so a lot of our students were
away from campus. We did a very, for those who needed to leave, did a very gradual
move out process. And really, especially when you think of all of our out of state
families that had left for break, really worked with them on an individual case by
case basis. I will say that that's always our commitment as an institution is to work
with families, especially when facing some kind of emergency or crisis, because what
works for one is not going to work for another.
Jenna Finley (00:22:32):
And so what we're able to do at our size of institution is really take a more individualized
approach to that. In the spring, we offered credits to families that left. I would
say we're still making some determinations on what we would do if there were another
stay at home order and we decided to do coursework remotely again. So we'll be-
Jenna Finley (00:23:03):
Again, so we'll be communicating that as well.
Leah Schultz (00:23:10):
Thank you for that. And then we've also been getting questions about concerns from
students and their parents about living on campus for the first semester. So we do
have a couple of questions on... Sorry, this is going to be a multi-point question,
on can I live on campus? Can I live at home for the first semester? And can I live
on campus the second semester? Can I just live at home, even if I'm not within the
live-on requirement? And also... I forgot the last point, so I will just let you answer
those two questions.
Jenna Finley (00:23:48):
UNC does still have a live-on requirement. It is something we're examining again.
Students that are exempt are within a certain school districts and that's available
on our website, primarily those in our local area, going until Larimer County are
the students that are able to commute. What I am telling students, particularly families
and students that are high risk for complications with COVID, is that you can consider
our Petition for Release process. That is located on our website under forms. Petitions
for release can be done for health reasons, as well as financial reasons and ask for
supporting documentation.
Jenna Finley (00:24:43):
Because we're dealing, if you're talking about a high risk students, that documentation
is reviewed by our disability resource center and not by my office since we don't
have the medical background to make those determinations. So there are reasons that
we would be releasing students. We just followed the process that we always follow
for that. If you're within the local area, want to commute the first semester and
then decide you want to move to campus, we will always take students in those circumstances.
So we'll always find a space and that's something that if you're a local student you're
able to do.
Leah Schultz (00:25:26):
And I remembered the final part of that multi-part question. It was what if I would
just want to take solely online classes and not live in the residence halls? Is that
an option?
Jenna Finley (00:25:42):
Typically... That I'll have to get back to. I can't remember right at the top of my
head how the policy is written. Most of our degree programs are not solely online
and most of the general degree offerings are not solely online. So we have very few
first year students that are in those programs, so typically you're still on campus.
Bryson Kelly (00:26:16):
This might be a good opportunity to hear from Provost Anderson about a little bit
of the approach that we will be taking and considerations that he and the rest of
campus is thinking about, which gives you a sense of what kinds of things would be
online, would we be online? So, Mark?
Mark Anderson (00:26:39):
Yeah, I appreciate that [Tobias 00:00:26:40]. I see a lot of questions in the Q &
A about students wanting to take all online classes, the California State System making
an announcement that they would be all online in the fall, et cetera. We are planning
for multiple different scenarios. One scenario is to be virtual, to be all virtual,
and I'm going to avoid using the term online instruction because in higher education,
that brings to mind a very specific type of instructional pedagogy. In a virtual environment,
the material is delivered online through Zoom or some other things, but it's different
than an online class, which is designed differently. So we are planning for the possibility
that we're all virtual. We're also planning for the possibility where we have a significant
proportion of our instruction in a face-to-face environment. As Tobias and Jenna indicated
earlier, where in every possible scenario, our primary concern is the health and safety
of our community, health and safety of our faculty, our staff, but especially our
students.
Mark Anderson (00:27:54):
So a student who wanted to take all online, in any normal semester, I think that'd
be very difficult because we do not have a very robust online portfolio of programs.
This semester, we are planning to have instruction in multiple modalities including
a virtual instruction. And so it would be possible for a student this fall to take
all of their courses in a virtual environment. We are planning for everything from
completely virtual to fully face- to-face and everything in between. Right now, the
guidance from the Governor with respect to face-to-face instruction is face-to-face
instruction is allowed, provided that the public health standards are maintained,
but also only in the case where specialized equipment is needed, so laboratory courses,
art studios, music performance venues, et cetera. If you look very closely what the
California State System said, that's the exact same guidance that they have.
Mark Anderson (00:29:01):
And although they've come out and had a lot of publicity about being all online, in
fact, they're going to be about 15 to 20% face-to-face to meet those specialized kinds
of equipment and facility needs. And so that's really one of our starting points.
I saw a question in the Q & A asking about music instruction. Some music instruction
you can do in a virtual environment, some has to be face-to-face. And so we're looking
at all possible scenarios, but also looking at that from the perspective of the public
health concerns. So maintaining appropriate social distancing. So that will impact
the size of face-to-face courses, maintaining the social distancing for the exchange
between courses. So that's going to change perhaps some of the timing. But we are
in fact, looking at all possible scenarios. I see a statement in here, the logistics
are a nightmare and logistics are one of the big concerns that we're looking at.
Mark Anderson (00:30:08):
How can we provide a first-class, high quality education, whether it be through online
or virtual courses, specialized types of things in a face-to-face environment, or
in a fully face-to-face environment where given the situation that we find ourselves
in? But the ultimate goal is to provide for this health and safety of our community
while also providing the best and most robust educational experience a student can
get.
Leah Schultz (00:30:44):
All right. Thank you, Mark. And there is a question that if school were to go back
online due to COVID, would the university be making changes in the cost of tuition?
Bryson Kelly (00:30:57):
Would the university... What was the last part of that?
Leah Schultz (00:31:01):
Will there be changes in tuition costs?
Mark Anderson (00:31:04):
I think tuition, no. One of the things we're looking at are student fees, particularly
if we go into an all virtual environment, but no final decisions have been made with
respect to student fees.
Bryson Kelly (00:31:25):
That's also the same for room and board. We have not made a final determination, but
our president has talked about that if we were to go into a stay at home order directed
by the Governor, that it would not be out of the realm to discuss what room and board
refunds would potentially look like. That is not a final answer or final determined
policy, but he has definitely asked us to think about what that looks like.
Leah Schultz (00:32:12):
Thank you so much for that. So I'm going to switch gears here a little bit into health
and safety. And we've got some questions about how are we going to implement social
distancing, both in the residence halls and on campus? How are we going to have students
wear masks? And will there be an infirmary on campus that students can go to should
they fall ill?
Bryson Kelly (00:32:39):
I'll start off and then I turn it over to Jenna. One of the things that we are experts
in is helping students with the developmental process. And so as you think about wearing
a mask, it is something that I'm getting lots of practice right now with my 17 year
old daughter in reminding her that anytime we step out, we do wear a mask. And there
is this constant question of why do I need it? And so it's an educational process.
Jenna can get into a little bit more specifics, but I think to start it off, we have
to come into this with the mindset of that. This is a learning process for all of
us. I guarantee that we will probably have some faculty and staff struggle with wearing
a mask, if that becomes our policy. The same with our students. So it is a developmental
process and will be a work in process as we educate the importance and the need for
doing so. Jenna?
Jenna Finley (00:33:48):
UNC has a guideline, or a rule, in our Student Code of Conduct that has to do with
health and safety. So we do have a policy in place that we have the ability to enforce.
Specific to the residential environment, we do anticipate putting some things in our
handbook and move-in materials so students are aware before they get here of our expectations
of them as a member of our community. So mask wearing is a piece of that. Primarily
we anticipate the instruction to be to wear the mask when you're outside of your room.
If we do have students with roommates, there'll be,, I think some guidelines about
when to consider wearing a mask in your room. We are anticipating no groups larger
than 10 and we will have capacities in some of our community spaces. I'm also anticipating
some of our community spaces might be closed for a period of time.
Jenna Finley (00:34:52):
Just when you think about the high demand for cleaning of high touch spaces, we want
to be as supportive of our custodial staff as we can be in terms of the kind of environment
and the safety that they have to have. So some community spaces we may have closed,
some will be open and in those open environments is where we will have to have limits
on how many people can be in any one space. So think of our community kitchens, laundry
rooms, TV lounges, all of those are likely to have new capacities in them. The dining
rooms will be the same. And then we'll also anticipate having rules about you can't
congregate around an elevator for example, and have capacity limits on our elevators
that look quite a bit different than what they currently do. So all of these things
are things that can be enforced through policy.
Jenna Finley (00:35:57):
We anticipate doing a lot of education at the front end, or as students come to campus
and then we'll get into policy enforcement. And when I say policy enforcement, that
can range from anything from a written letter of warning and reminding people of what
that policy is all the way up to a conduct or disciplinary hearing with a staff member
of the campus with sanctions involved. Because really when you think about these types
of policies, we think of they seem somewhat small, but they can have huge implications
for the health and safety of our campus. So we will treat them seriously for that
reason. I apologize, I had another thought. I may have to chime back in later with
that, but I think as family members, you can help us with reinforcing, I think, some
of these messages. The other thing I think we know in students' rooms, and if they
do have suite mates or roommates, I think a source for conflict can be different levels
of fear and anxiety around the virus and the need for cleaning and hygiene and all
of those things.
Jenna Finley (00:37:18):
We will have some guidelines for students from everything from it may be a good idea
to take your shoes off at your door and leave them there to how frequently you should
wash your linens and towels. Just because we know students are not necessarily coming
to campus with a good understanding of how frequently some of those cleaning habits
should happen. How often, if you are in a suite that has a private bath, how often
might you want to wipe down your sink and your high touch areas, your remote controls,
your laptops, your phones? So we are already starting to put together guidelines,
instructions, but if your students aren't used to that level of self responsibility
for that, it's a good thing to work on this summer so that they are prepared when
they get here for helping take care of themselves.
Bryson Kelly (00:38:11):
Perhaps some of the difficult work is trying to shift cultural norms that we all have,
and these habits that we have. And so for us in our customary behaviors, taking off
our shoes may not always be within our traditional habits, but these are the types
of things that are really important that we're going to have to emphasize, specifically
for the greater good of all of our students.
Leah Schultz (00:38:46):
Thank you. Going along with that as well, do we have a protocol should a student become
sick? What sort of testing do we have or will we have here on campus?
Jenna Finley (00:39:00):
We do have a protocol for when students are sick or symptomatic, and we have isolation
rooms set aside for that purpose. If a student is having symptoms and is waiting for
test results and they're in a private room with a private bath, we do allow them to
stay in self isolation in that space, but we also have spaces designated that they
can move into. They must wear gloves and masks. We provide food to the rooms. They
don't need to worry about leaving. And we provide those meals delivered to their door,
no matter if they have a meal plan or not. Generally, if a student is symptomatic,
they are instructed to be in isolation for two weeks. We do do testing in our student
health center, so there is a health center available to students. They need to call
ahead.
Jenna Finley (00:40:02):
There's special protocols for students to enter that facility for the testing. And
then while students are in isolation, as you can imagine, that can be a fairly lonely
experience on a college campus to be by yourself and to be not feeling well. The health
center staff has been checking in on those students as well as our case management
area. So they'll have a few people checking in on them. We recommend that they bring
all their course materials and laptops and things like that to that space, if they're
relocated. So there is support and there is testing available through our health center.
And UNC, this summer, is also a testing site for the community. In one of our parking
lots, there's a drive through testing facility as well. So we've been very fortunate
to have access to testing for students who needed it.
Bryson Kelly (00:40:58):
We have also talked about the possibility of creating the testing site that Jenna
was mentioning in our partnership with King Soopers. This is the traditional set ups
that you might see with big tents that you drive through. But the possibility of having
another testing site similar to that in August, those details and plans have not been
finalized, but it is something that we as a campus are also looking into.
Leah Schultz (00:41:36):
Thank you. And going a little bit off of that as well, obviously this is a completely
different unprecedented time and it's really hard to see what the fall will bring,
but can we talk a little bit to what campus might look like, clubs, organizations?
Obviously here at UNC, we talk about a Culture of Care and how great our community
is. So is there anything we can speak to that about what that aspect on campus may
look like?
Bryson Kelly (00:42:07):
I think a couple of things, and we could probably all chime in on this particular
aspect, is I firmly believe it's what you make it to be. And what I mean by that is
we all are experiencing this particular situation and we all have to change. We all
have to adapt. We all have to pivot as much as possible. And one of the fundamental
aspects of being in college, besides getting your degree, is what Provost Anderson
talked about at the very beginning and that's the college experience. That experience
is so enlightening to you as a young person growing into a soon to be graduate in
four years and the experiences that you have throughout that time are very important.
And so that's why it's going to be necessary for you to really make it the best possible
experience. We won't be in this situation forever.
Bryson Kelly (00:43:21):
We may be in it for a full year or two years, but the point of that is, is that we
need to make the best of this situation. And so we, as a university, believe in that
and are going to always provide you opportunities to be engaged. We live off the fact
that we create relationships at UNC. It is why we have many alum still connected to
each other. It is why that we have a large network of folks that are connected with
each other to this day. It is the fraternities and the sororities and the clubs and
the organizations that you're a part of. And so we may have to make some adjustments,
we may not have as many, but we do want to make sure that we provide you with the
experiences that are going to create those relationships, because that's what matters.
And the networking is pretty important and pretty critical. Jenna talked a little
bit about homesickness.
Bryson Kelly (00:44:25):
We are very in tune with the fact that a lot of our students at the very beginning
of the year experience loneliness, and it is our job to make sure that you find the
connection. So Jenna can probably talk to you a little bit more about what that all
looks like, but that's the overarching view of what we believe in here at UNC.
Jenna Finley (00:44:49):
That relationship and sense of belonging is really critical and finding ways to support
that in no matter what our environment looks like and how courses are delivered is
really important. And so are the out of class skill building and learning experiences.
We got some practice the spring for what some of this looks like. A lot of our organizations
continued to have meetings. Our student leaders who run organizations, got to practice
what that looks like. I think for those of you who have been experiencing Zoom and
Teams meetings, it's a different skill set. It's a different way to lead and is something
that will help them in the future to know how to do that. They also did a lot of the
social things. So movie nights, game nights, all of that continued this spring, even
though they had to learn how to do that pretty quickly. So we're anticipating a lot
of that to continue in the fall. I think the one thing that we know, that typically
happening happens in those early first few days, is that students learn how to get
to know one another and they're-
Jenna Finley (00:46:03):
... is that students learn how to get to know one another. And there are some critical
skills that they need to learn. How do I have a conversation with someone that's different
than I am? How do I negotiate conflict where the first thing I encounter is something
that I'm uncomfortable with? And so we're talking through how we need to do that in
small groups. And that will likely be virtual, although we planned for the virtual.
And if we can do in person distance, what we're planning can be adapted, because we
know we'll have to continue to be flexible.
Jenna Finley (00:46:38):
What you'll likely see ... we're still working on the details, is that some of the
small group formation will happen at orientation and then that group can continue
into the fall. We feel like that's a good way to have facilitated relationship building
and so students can have someone that they recognize and know and can continue with.
And I think as parents and families support people, as your student experiences these
small groups for the first time, they may ... I think when we all struggled at first
in this environment to feel like we're actually connecting with someone in this way,
asking ourselves, "Is it really possible to build a relationship when I've never seen
someone in close contact?" Culturally, that's always been important to us. I think
what we are finding is that with patients, that the group relationships can still
happen and the individual relationships can still happen. We know that we have to
teach resident assistance to get to know people individually in their communities
that they're responsible for and make the individual one on one connections as well,
because we know that one friend can make a difference for us as well as having that
small group to go to.
Jenna Finley (00:47:58):
So those are things we're figuring out and planning for, because we know how critical
not feeling alone, feeling like they belong, having a sense of relationship is to
student success, and also planning for how do you find people to study with outside
of the classroom? One of our strengths is to have faculty and residents and all of
our residence hall communities have residential learning communities and have residential
tutors. And all those things will continue one way or another. And so faculty and
residents should still be supporting students in their communities in how to have
a successful transition, how to develop a relationship with a faculty member. So it'll
look a little different, but it will still happen.
Leah Schultz (00:48:46):
Thanks. And on that ... Sorry, that was a weird feedback. On that, are we also going
to be offering Greek life?
Jenna Finley (00:49:03):
That we may have to get back ... as far as I know, yes. But as you can imagine, there
are some complications with that. I don't think you would think that what many parents
would know too, there's ... used to be known as rush. Something like that is not likely
be able to happen, when you think of bringing large groups of people together or people
to be in close proximity in a house. So I imagine those things are going to look different.
It might be something we have to have a little more information to you later in the
summer, but supporting students through clubs and organizations is still important
to us because we know that students find that connection and community in a variety
of ways, and that Greek life is something that a lot of students look forward to.
Leah Schultz (00:49:59):
Well, thank you for that. So we have a couple of questions here as well. Are we considering
testing every single student as they move in? And then will we also be regularly testing
faculty and staff?
Jenna Finley (00:50:17):
I think as you ... there are not those plans. I think when you think about COVID,
you can test someone and they don't ... they come up negative and they're exposed
five days later. There just isn't the capacity to continually test the same group
of people. So right now the guidelines are to only test symptomatic. I think that
we're still ramping up the testing capacity. As I mentioned earlier, our students
on campus who had flu-like symptoms were able to get tested this spring, and that
the states are all continuing to ramp up the number of tests that they can do. We
are ...
Tobias Guzmán (00:51:04):
One of the biggest thing that's occurring is that we are preparing for re-entry into
the fall. And so there are several taskforce groups that are meeting across campus.
One of them is led by our vice president for student affairs, Dr. Katrina Rodriguez,
as well as Provost Anderson in terms of reentry into the academic space as well as
the other part, reentry into our on-campus and student life and student activities
areas as well. So my point in sharing that is that we have large numbers of folks
working on all of the logistics, and I appreciate the comment about logistics. It
can be a nightmare. A nightmare, but an obvious necessity to be able to make things
work smoothly in this big system that we have.
Jenna Finley (00:52:13):
Along those lines, I think what we consistently know is that ramping up of testing,
contact tracing in those, and symptom monitoring are things that are important. And
what you may see from us is ... recommendation for your student to bring a thermometer
with them. That's not typically on our what to bring list when you think of what we
ask of students. But a thermometer and a journal might be a good idea, having an idea
of where you go every day and when you might have come into contact with someone.
Keeping track of your symptoms, keeping track of temperature I think are all going
to be things that become a part of living in a community, and certainly things that
we recommend or a mandate for faculty and staff based on the guidelines we have from
the CDC. So those are things that are continuing to evolve in terms of recommendations,
but things that most institutions are considering at the moment.
Leah Schultz (00:53:22):
All right, thanks. So we're going to switch again a little bit into move in days.
We do have multiple questions about move in. How will it be altered due to COVID-19
and upon plans for admitting students to campus in earlier phases of move in, how
will ... so sorry, that was confusing. What will we be doing for out of state students
that obviously need to make [inaudible 00:53:51] that they get moved in? And then
when will these dates be communicated?
Jenna Finley (00:53:59):
We are hoping to have these dates communicated in mid-June. As you can imagine from
our conversation, that it is complex. We have to make assignments first. Because what
I anticipate is move in is going to be based on what your room number is and what
area of a community you live in, because we're going to have to map it and sequence
it according to that to try to keep people distant. When we did move out the spring,
we did it as slowly as only 10 people could be in a building at a time. And that's
really because we didn't have time to consult with an expert to really figure out
what those routes could look like and how we could keep people distanced. Because
most of our buildings are much bigger and can allow for people to be spread out. It
just needs to be planned out pretty carefully.
Jenna Finley (00:54:52):
So room assignments will need to come first. We're currently working on kind of a
reverse engineer of how many people at a time in any particular building and how many
days and weeks do we need to go into. At a glance, it's going to be probably a two
to three week process versus a multi-day process. So in middle of June, you're likely
to get your ... hopefully will get your assignment and then also a move in date, either
with that communication or shortly afterwards as we get the details ironed out, again,
because of all of our communities are being ... are so different in terms of size,
number of entrances, all of those pieces.
Jenna Finley (00:55:40):
What we do also anticipate is with that some pretty set instructions on where you
enter and exit your building according to where your room is located. And so again,
responsibility to community, whatever we're asking you to do, we're hoping you ...
that families help us with that, because the intent is not going to be to make things
more difficult, but to make things as simple and streamlined as we can and do it and
do things as safely as we can. But it won't be quite the same as being able to go
right in the front door, directly into an elevator necessarily. So more to come, but
that's what I am seeing at this point.
Leah Schultz (00:56:26):
Awesome. And I do want to move into talking about dining, but since you did mention
this, we have had multiple questions, again, about the potential of changing roommates,
I think, and changing their roommate. How will that happen? Obviously, some students
have chosen to live with somebody that they're friends with, and then as well as that
live on requirement. Sorry, I just want to circle back, and then we'll go into dining
after that.
Tobias Guzmán (00:56:59):
Go ahead, Jenna.
Jenna Finley (00:57:02):
This is something that we're still evaluating. I think for students that have chosen
a roommate, there may be times when we say no, that a particular room really shouldn't
have more than one person in it and we will not be able to honor that roommate request.
There's enough flexibility, however, right now that we are considering to allow people
to choose a roommate. This is a careful balance of what's in students' best interest.
We know for some students, to be completely alone in a room with anxiety and depression,
for example, is not the best for them, and that having ... assuming some risk but
having a roommate might be the better choice. So we're still evaluating how that can
happen, and that will be communicated as we move forward.
Tobias Guzmán (00:58:00):
The live on requirement has not changed at this point. Once again, I think that's
an important question. And over the next several weeks, we'll continue to evaluate
that, but we want to make sure that, again, if you live within that school district,
and it's on the website of what that is, that you still have the opportunity to live
at home and commute to UNC.
Jenna Finley (00:58:39):
If you're a transfer student or family and are evaluating, and you're not ... you
meet our credit requirements to live off campus, we are advising students to carefully
consider that in terms of the density of some of the off campus housing as well as
the lease, the 12 month lease typically comes with an off campus property. So it's
a decision only you and your family can make, but just be thinking, those are the
things that we suggest thinking about as you're weighing your options.
Leah Schultz (00:59:19):
Thank you. So like I said, we do have multiple more questions in housing, but since
we I'm coming up on a 5:00 mark, I wanted to talk about dining for any students that
do need to head out based off of their time. So if we could discuss a little bit about
how dining will work, what will it look like? Will we be offering to go options? There's
one concern for student athletes, how will they have access to the dining halls? And
are we anticipating them to be open for face-to-face?
Jenna Finley (00:59:52):
The last bit of your question faded out a little bit, but I think I ... you might
have to remind me anyway, because there's multiple parts to that. This spring, what
we did for dining is we had students pick up three meals once a day that they could
bring home and either prepare or eat cold, and had a wide variety of options. And
we're able to accommodate things like allergy requests, vegan, vegetarian needs, all
of that. As we look at what the current CDC and other hospitality industry guidelines
are, what we are anticipating is that we will still have social distancing in place
and have to have a limited capacity in the dining room. It looks like there'll be
a limited amount of ability to dine in, but so we'll have an emphasis on being able
to carry out. Self service, as you would typically see at a buffet line, will not
likely be able to happen.
Jenna Finley (01:00:51):
So when you're thinking about something like a salad bar, instead of seeing something
that you can serve yourself, you'll see prepackaged salads. We're still working out
what our hours of operation and how that needs to look in order to accommodate the
number of people that can be in the building at a time. So that's more to come. We
are always able to accommodate athletes, students who are sick, the band in the fall
has always been another group. There's lots of groups that have high demands on their
schedules that need some flexibility. And we accommodate that in a few different ways.
And one of that is a student can use their card swipe more than once at a time to
pick up multiple meals and take it with them, for example. And then we have just lunches
to go and things like that.
Jenna Finley (01:01:42):
We're investigating what we need in terms of what you're probably all getting used
to at home, the curbside delivery, the delivery to your room, those types of options
as well. And one of the biggest reasons is a lot of our retail options are in areas
that it makes it difficult to maintain distancing and having a line to wait for something
like your Subway sandwich. So we're investigating all of that and making some plans
for what that'll look like. So it will definitely be different if you visited our
dining rooms on your campus tour, but still hoping to have a good amount of variety,
still accommodate students and their needs in terms of accommodation for allergy.
We have dieticians that will work with students as well. So it'll be different, but
definitely be able to be flexible enough to meet the needs and the challenging schedules
of our students.
Leah Schultz (01:02:50):
All right. And then we also had a couple of questions as well about are there exceptions
to any incoming first year students being required to carry a meal plan, as well as
students who do live in [inaudible 01:03:11] Hall, is that still a requirement for
them as well?
Jenna Finley (01:03:14):
All first year students are required to carry a 14 meal plan. And there is a petition
process for dining services and that's done through the Disability Resource Center.
So if you're coming in with a health concern, our dieticians can evaluate whether
we can accommodate that special need or not. But yes, we do require a 14 meal plan,
no matter where you live, if you're a first year student.
Leah Schultz (01:03:49):
And does that apply to students who live at home?
Jenna Finley (01:03:54):
No. If you are commuting in the local area, you do not need to carry a meal plan,
but you're welcome to have what we call ... we have Bear plans, which are basically
blocks of meals that you can still eat on campus and have dining dollars, for example,
to use in our retail. So if you're someone that is in the local area and not living
on campus, but you want a part of that community experience, having a meal plan or
a small meal plan is a good way to do that.
Leah Schultz (01:04:28):
Thank you. And so we'll also circle back now to Provost Mike Anderson. If you could
just once again talk a little bit about class size, what classes will look like, especially
classes like music, how since ... even if we are in the class and social distancing,
what are we going to be doing for them?
Mark Anderson (01:04:55):
So I didn't quite get the last bit of your question there, Leah, but our classes,
we are going to, and Tobias mentioned this earlier, that we have a task force, which
is looking at all possible scenarios for both student life on the housing, dining
side, as well as student life on the academic side. We're doing an inventory of all
our classroom space to understand how we can configure those so that we can maintain
six feet of social distancing. And so that necessarily means the classes ... well,
face-to-face classes will be smaller than they might otherwise be. We're looking at
blended learning. Blended learning is where you're using both the virtual environment
as well as the face-to-face environment to deliver the material. And so one can imagine
a blended class where the content of the material is delivered in an online format,
but the face-to-face format is an engagement activity, some group discussion, those
types of things. Laboratory classes or specialized classes that require access to
equipment or facilities will again be very much the same as they always have been,
but probably in a smaller environment. There was a question in the chat about theater
arts. The theater folks are looking at how they deliver their materials and how they
can do that in a safe environment. We have to be aware of the fact that some students
don't want to come to campus. And so we want to make sure that they have an opportunity
to continue their education in a virtual environment. So that's where this blended
learning comes in, so their classes have an opportunity to be face-to-face or online.
Mark Anderson (01:06:43):
And likewise, we have to recognize that there might be opportunities for instances
where students ... this happens every semester, students get ill and are unable to
attend class for a period of time. And so we have to be mindful of that by providing
options for students who are ill and can't attend the class so that they can maintain
connection to the community.
Mark Anderson (01:07:06):
I want to go back to one thing that Tobias said earlier and Jenna said earlier. The
college experience is not just about the classes you take. And one of my favorite
times at the university is graduation and really congratulating all the students as
they come across the stage. And as they're coming across the stage and they're receiving
a degree in biology or a degree in business or a degree in criminal justice, the one
thing that occurs to me is that they're not really getting a degree in biology, business,
or criminal justice. They're getting a degree in themselves, and the degree they're
getting, the experiences they've had, are different for everybody. And so it's that
aspect of the university that is critically important.
Mark Anderson (01:07:50):
And so that's one of the reasons why we're really trying our best and are very optimistic
about having a face-to-face experience in the fall. But even if we don't have face-to-face,
or even if a student chooses to spend the first semester taking classes online, we're
working hard to give students those out of class experiences to build that community,
to develop that individual experience that defines their university education, to
make those connections to the faculty, to get engaged in the discipline, to get engaged
in different student organizations, as members and ultimately as leaders. And that
is what differentiates a student's experience at any university. That's what sells
them as they graduate to potential employers. And that's really what differentiates
the University of Northern Colorado experience from other institutions.
Leah Schultz (01:08:55):
Thank you. And then we also have a couple of questions about is there a specific deadline
of knowing when classes will be online?
Leah Schultz (01:09:03):
The big deadline of knowing when classes will be online, if they are to be held online.
Mark Anderson (01:09:06):
No, that's a great question. And I can't give you a great answer at the moment. We
are in constant communication with the government to understand where they are with
respect to loosening and relaxing some of the social distancing requirements. We are
very early in the Safer At Home, which is a loosening or relaxing of some of the social
distancing aspects. And what we're trying to do is follow how that relaxing of the
social distancing requirements impacts the progression of the virus. And so we don't
really know if there's a spike and the community has to retrench, that will impact
our ability to offer face to face versus online.
Mark Anderson (01:09:57):
So far, it appears that the relaxing hasn't had a significant impact upon the progression
of the disease and that's great. We're using that as we're scenario planning for the
fall, but we have to make a decision sooner rather than later. And I would say the
end of June, the beginning of July is when we will have to make a final determination
on how the semester is going to look. I fully anticipate that we will have face-to-face
opportunities, but it won't be "back to normal", whatever normal was prior to the
coronavirus. But we will make a decision no later than the beginning of July on how
our instruction will be.
Leah Schultz (01:10:53):
And on that also, are we still planning on having classes start on August 24th?
Mark Anderson (01:11:02):
Yes. It's very difficult if not impossible to change our schedule at the moment. Too
many people, including many people on this call have scheduled their time around that
starting date. So we anticipate having a complete semester that begins on schedule.
Leah Schultz (01:11:24):
And then should we start in person classes in the fall and then there is another outbreak,
is there an opportunity for a refund?
Mark Anderson (01:11:37):
Those are again, great questions that I can't give you a great answer to. There's
really multiple aspects to a refund. One is tuition. One is housing and dining. One
is student fees. Depending upon when the outbreak is and depending upon how we continue
our instruction, we're still meeting the instructional needs of students, and ultimately
we learned a lot over the spring semester, and I think we will continue to get better.
But depending upon when and the extent to which we're able to continue our instruction
really will help guide those types of decisions.
Mark Anderson (01:12:29):
It's very difficult right now in a hypothetical situation to say, if this happens,
this is exactly what we will do. I think, and I'll defer to Jenna and Tobias. The
same goes for Housing and Dining. It really depends upon where we are in the semester.
What we are required to do over the course of the spring semester, we maintained housing
and dining. We recommended that students who could move out, but we had a number of
students who could not, this was their housing option. And so we maintained housing
and dining for those students. So that's a great question. It's a very difficult one
to answer at the moment.
Leah Schultz (01:13:13):
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for the answer and information. I know we are at the
5:15 mark right now, but our panelists are still willing to stay on, and we do have
a few more questions. So we are still here to answer. Here is a very easy one. Well,
it might not be that easy, I guess. Will the gyms be open?
Tobias Guzman (01:13:38):
We will follow again, that the trite answer that you're probably hearing is that we're
going to follow the guidance. Right now we have our campus recreation staff working
diligently on what the campus recreation looks like in the fall. As you can probably
imagine there is a lot of activity. There's lots of visits and it's not just for exercising,
but the overall wellness of a student, including our faculty and staff who frequent
the rec center. So our guidance is going to come strictly from the state and local
government, as well as CDC in terms of how we do the gym, how we have group fitness
classes, how we have recreational intramural sports, the protocols for cleaning have
enhanced. And how big should those group fitness classes actually be?
Tobias Guzman (01:14:47):
So all of that I think will be coming as we hear talks of recreation facilities opening
up. I heard that the YMCA and the National Organization of YMCA has undergone an extensive
review of how they are going to operate. And so you better believe that we will be
looking at their playbook if you will, and to see what kinds of things they've been
discussing, because the YMCA is a very, very big organization. And I'm sure we can
learn from them as well.
Leah Schultz (01:15:31):
Thank you. And then moving back into housing we do have a lot of concerns about students,
mostly about the costs. So if all rooms are to become single rooms? Will they be charged
if they are in a single room? And all rooms become single room, will they subsidize
that additional cost? And then again, there's also concerns about students being moved
into housing tiers that they did not want to live in and that they couldn't afford.
And how will we address that change with potentially changing students' living arrangements?
Tobias Guzman (01:16:14):
I think one thing to be certain about is if we have to house students in singles,
our goal is not to charge you more as if you are paying for a single price. The reason
for that is that that is beyond your control. It is beyond your expectation, and it
is something that we would have to respond and still offer you housing. And if we're
asked to make sure that it's a single space, we don't find it ethical to be charging
you a single space rate. Jenna can talk more about the details with tiers. And it's
a really good question because many times students live in particular tiers based
on what they can afford. And we specifically have tiers so that there can be varying
levels of prices that are charged and what you're able and willing to pay. So other
comments or response related to that, Jenna?
Jenna Finley (01:17:26):
I think we're still evaluating what would happen if we had to do some reassigning
of people. We do try to get people in the tier that they originally wanted. There's
never however, based on how our occupancy works, a guarantee that a student is going
to be able to get the tier that they requested. But I think whatever changes we are
making, as Tobias said, we don't anticipate if we've assigned someone to a single
room, we don't anticipate charging more for that.
Jenna Finley (01:18:04):
I think I lost my train of thought again. I apologize. But so tiers could look different.
It's just really going to depend on what happens in the next few weeks.
Leah Schultz (01:18:25):
Yeah. Sorry, I had to switch to headphones. I heard my mic wasn't very good. So we
do also have questions about if a student is in a single room, will they be moved
or will they stay in that single room?
Tobias Guzman (01:18:44):
Our goal is not to move students and the situation, obviously it is we're here to
make sure that you are in an environment where you're able to learn. And so our goal
is not to move you around. If, for some reason, again scenario planning that there
was a particular outbreak, then we would have to take necessary action and plan or
move accordingly. But our goal is to never start you off in one place and then move
you mid semester and move you another week later. That just does not help you.
Leah Schultz (01:19:33):
Yeah. And going off of that, since most of the students that live in Turner are already
in a single room, even though it's a single room with maybe three or four suite mates,
is this still going to be considered safe living?
Jenna Finley (01:19:50):
We're going to check with someone to be sure that our evaluation of that is correct,
and so an epidemiologist or someone with a similar background to evaluate those spaces.
But right now the plan is Turner, yes is already all single bedrooms so that building
would stay as assigned unless we're told otherwise that there's not enough space within.
But based on the six feet guidelines and the single bedrooms available, that's my
anticipate anticipating nothing changing with Turner Hall.
Tobias Guzman (01:20:25):
The caveat to all of that is how bathrooms are viewed. And so as Jenna is describing
a Turner Hall room that has maybe four or five students and it all being singles,
there is one bathroom that those students share. And that's the caveat to all of this
in terms of planning. Until we hear from the local and state government, then we are
able to enact what our practices will be.
Leah Schultz (01:21:00):
Thank you. And then we also have a couple of questions about how have we been tracking
current cases on campus and have we seen any spike in cases of students that are living
on campus currently?
Tobias Guzman (01:21:17):
So we have a-
Tobias Guzman (01:21:17):
Go ahead. Just trying to give your voice a break. So go ahead.
Jenna Finley (01:21:25):
Cases come to our attention in a couple of different ways. Students can report. As
you know, in some cases testing was taking a long time. So when there is a confirmed
case, the Public Health Department notifies the campus. If a student is symptomatic,
they would self report. And we would talk about isolation rooms. We had only a couple
of students that were symptomatic in the spring that we self isolated until they had
their test results back. So we are able to monitor from that perspective, both through
the health department notifying us and from students self reporting. We're looking
at some policy statements around that. As you can imagine, there's complications with
privacy laws in terms of we can't mandate that a student informs us when they're sick.
But we are going to encourage it and we are going to encourage students to monitor
their symptoms. And if they do have a fever not be leaving their room, not go to class,
those types of instructions.
Leah Schultz (01:22:31):
All right. So right now we're at 5:22 here. We just have a couple of more questions
and then we also invite you to join us on Thursday at 4PM for our Open House with
some other campus leaders, including President Andy Feinstein. Mike Anderson will
be there as well. So we encourage you to join us there. We will also be talking more
about campus updates, classes and that kind of thing. I do have a question here for
Mike Anderson. Will the decision to use virtual instruction be made by individual
departments or will it be campus wide?
Mark Anderson (01:23:18):
That's a great question. A lot really depends upon the extent to which we're virtual.
If we are fully virtual, which would require effectively a pretty significant resurgence
of the virus, that would be a campus wide decision. Much more likely is that we will
have some of our instruction in a face to face and some of it in a virtual environment.
We'll leave that decision up to individual units to decide how they're going to teach
individual courses, but that will have to be made in a holistic way with the rest
of the campus. As we are looking at our facility, for example, taking a classroom
which would normally seat about 45 students, to ensure social distancing that classroom
now seats about 18 students or so., And as a consequence, we'll have to use our facility
a little bit differently. And so as individual units are making the decision about
which classes will be virtual, which will be face to face, that is done not in a vacuum
because we have to use our facility.
Mark Anderson (01:24:32):
The other piece is we'll be teaching a lot of classes in this blended format where
some of it's virtual, some of it is face to face. And those courses typically require
rooms that have a lot of technology built into them. So as individual units are deciding
the instructional methods for individual courses, we'll have to map those courses
against the resources which are available in the facility. So those decisions will
be made largely at the unit level, but within the context of how we can best utilize
the facility that we have.
Leah Schultz (01:25:17):
Thank you. And we do have one question about mail. So a student is concerned about
items that they need to receive in the mail such as medication or things like that.
Will they still be able to get that?
Tobias Guzman (01:25:32):
Yes, absolutely. The answer is yes.
Leah Schultz (01:25:38):
Perfect. All right. I think that just about wraps everything up. If you do have any
questions today about anything that wasn't answered, we do have our coronavirus website,
which is going to be unco.edu/coronavirus. If you feel like you didn't get an answer,
we will also be answering some of the questions that we've had [inaudible 01:26:04]
during this webinar as well. I think a couple of questions would just be again more
how are we ensuring the health and safety of our students?
Tobias Guzman (01:26:18):
Well, I think one of the things that you should be assured about is the fact that
we are working tirelessly in making sure that the safety of your student and of our
students current and new is our priority. And so with that, why you should believe
us is because one, we are very committed to what we do. Secondly, we utilize outside
resources besides our perhaps insular perspective. And the outside resources that
we use can be the research that we as institutions of higher education have very good
access to later on into the semester so that you hear more robust answers to your
questions. With that I will turn it over to Mark.
Mark Anderson (01:27:25):
I have to interrupt you for just one second. We have another session Thursday night
at four o'clock. This one was focused on housing and dining. Thursday, I believe is
campus updates, which could include housing and dining and academics, student life,
et cetera. One small correction. I just posted into the chat. Mark Anderson is such
a common name that Mark.Anderson was already taken when I arrived. So they've tacked
my middle initial on to the end of my first name. So it's MarkR.Anderson. And I know
the other Mark Anderson really enjoys getting emails for me, but I posted in the chat
my actual email address. So maybe that's why I never get anything from you, Tobias.
Tobias Guzman (01:28:13):
Thanks, Mark. Appreciate that. And then remember Thursday, as Mark said, the other
session that you all have been invited to as well. Leah?
Leah Schultz (01:28:24):
Yes. Thank you all to all of our panelists. Virtual round of applause for you.
Tobias Guzman (01:28:28):
Thank you.
Leah Schultz (01:28:30):
Fourth reminder, please don't forget about our 4PM session on Thursday as well, on
campus updates including President Andy Feinstein. If any of you have any more questions,
please don't hesitate to reach out to us. If you have questions about admissions,
you can make that to admissions@unco.edu, and we're all here to help and answer your
questions. And we also have our UNC coronavirus website at unco.edu/coronavirus where
you can find frequently asked questions. And thank you all for joining us and have
a good rest of your night.