June 25, Operational Update
June 25 Update (View on Youtube)
Transcript:
Andy Feinstein (00:00):
Well, good morning, everybody. Thursday, June 25th. This is our weekly operation status
update. Before we get started, I would like all of you to take a moment and send us
some feedback on how these operation status updates are going. If there are things
that we should be doing differently, if there are still a need to have these every
week, if you find the information useful, we'd like to hear from you. And we welcome
comments and suggestions for improving these as we move throughout the summer. And
with that, I'm going to hand the conversation over to Dan Maxey, our Chief of Staff,
who's going to moderate conversations from the other task force. Dan?
Dan Maxey (00:41):
Great, thank you, President Feinstein. As we reach the end of June, we're approaching
decision milestones, and the work of the reentry task force, and still have some good
material to report on today, and I anticipate in the next couple of weeks as the academic
affairs and student affairs groups in particular reach some of their decisions that
are key decision points for the fall. As our panel gives reports, please remember
to unmute your microphones and turn on your cameras. We're going to start today's
call with a report on the current status of public health orders and conditions in
Colorado, as well as an update from the logistics working group, from Associate Vice
President for Administration Blaine Nickeson. Blaine?
Blaine Nickeson (01:20):
Thanks Dan. Good morning. I'm going to sort of blend those things together as I go
through my report this morning, but I'd like to start off with some updates related
to mask-wearing. As I mentioned last week, UNC will require cloth face coverings for
all students, faculty and staff. That's consistent with guidance from CDC and the
state, along with our peer institutions are doing the same things. We're currently
working on clarifying circumstances where there will be exceptions such as when working
out in the rec center, eating in our dining halls, or for faculty who are lecturing
at an appropriate distance from their students.
Blaine Nickeson (01:55):
We're working really hard on that one to get the guidance about how far is the appropriate
length to be able to have a faculty member remove their mask in order to facilitate
that learning. We're also preparing for the situations that will inevitably come up
where someone forgets their mask at home or in their car, or a mishap occurs such
as dropping your mask in a puddle or a strap breaking or something along those lines.
We plan to have a limited quantity of disposable masks available at a variety of offices
around campus, as well as a small stock of reusable cloth masks available for students
who aren't able to, for whatever reason, to provide their own. We also envision having
masks available at Bear Pantry. More specific details will be shared in the weeks
to come.
Blaine Nickeson (02:42):
Last week saw a slight increase in the state's case count, but we've not seen an increase
in Weld County yet. This past week, we actually saw a very slight decrease. We averaged
eight new cases per day, to give you some comparison at the peak in late April, we
were averaging about 75 per day. Given the explosive growth that we're seeing in a
number of states such as Texas and Arizona, we need to be very vigilant about appropriate
distancing, mask wearing, hand-washing, all those things.
Blaine Nickeson (03:13):
The state's very concerned about the increase in cases among young people. Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment says that in June, people under the age
of 30 have accounted for 40% of new cases. So again, under the age of 30, 40% of new
cases. In Boulder, for example, the city's threatening to revoke rental licenses of
a large number of houses on the Hill, including Greek houses. That would force the
residents of those houses to move out. This is because of sort of their blatant disregard
for the public health orders. I'm working with our staff in Greek Life and Student
Affairs to prepare for how we communicate expectations and safety messaging for our
students who live off campus. This will also be part of our required COVID-19 Awareness
Training that we're developing for students, employees and supervisors.
Blaine Nickeson (04:03):
By the end of the week, we hope to post UNC's reopening plan. This is a detailed logistics
guide to the nuts and bolts of reopening, including how we'll utilize and maintain
our facilities and protocols around health and safety. We're also rolling out a signage
package as part of our plans for the fall to reinforce messaging about appropriate
distancing, personal responsibility and mask-wearing.
Blaine Nickeson (04:24):
Speaking about how we'll use our facilities this fall, you may see some unique classroom
spaces on campus. Because of our need to set up rooms with six-foot distancing between
desks, our classroom capacity is obviously decreased. So we've gotten creative. The
Cniversity Center's ballrooms and event spaces will serve as classrooms during the
day. We've even added two classrooms in the group fitness spaces in the Campus Rec
center. So you can check out how you look on the mirror walls while you learn about
economics. Our team and information management and technology is working hard to make
sure that all of these spaces are configured with the technology that makes them great
learning spaces. That's all I have for today. Dan, I'll go ahead and turn it back
over to you.
Dan Maxey (05:06):
Great. Thank you Blaine. Next we'll turn reports over to the reentry task force to
Provost Mark Anderson and Vice President for Student Affairs Katrina Rodriguez. I
see Mark.
Mark Anderson (05:18):
Thank you, Dan. And thank you Blaine. The public health standards are an evolving
situation, it's good to get those updates from Blaine. As he indicated, there was
some loosening of some restrictions, which allow for some different changes with respect
to mask wearing. And so that really has enhanced some of our ability to teach classes,
which are really dependent upon not just hearing, but seeing the facial expressions
of some of our faculty, particularly in programs like American Sign Language and Interpretive
Studies, teaching of languages, et cetera. Excuse me. We're working diligently to
finalize the fall schedule. My apologies.
Andy Feinstein (06:09):
Hang in there, Mark.
Mark Anderson (06:11):
Doing the best I can, Andy. And we are on track to have that completed by the units,
the academic colleges, and the schools and departments, by the middle of next week.
And then we'll begin the process of entering any changes into the system. Preliminary
data indicates that about 45 to 50% of all of our instruction will have a face-to-face
component, either entirely face-to-face or some mixed hybrid face-to-face. Some programs
like music are going to have a little bit smaller percentage of classes face-to-face
because of the nature of the instruction and the nature of the disciplines, but we're
feeling pretty good.
Mark Anderson (06:58):
And with some of the changes in the public health, with respect to mask wearing, some
of the different rooms that we're bringing online, we expect that there might be an
increase in the amount of face-to-face that we can do in the next week or so. Once
the schedule has been set by the academic units, we have to do some behind-the-scenes
work to implement the changes into the system so that we can accurately reflect the
modality of instruction.
Mark Anderson (07:30):
When we do that, and that'll take about a week to 10 days to get the system up-to-date,
we're going to begin a process of communicating out to our students what has happened
and what they can do to understand the modality of the instruction of the classes
they've enrolled in, and if there is some change to their schedule that they would
like to address, the process by which they can reach out to their academic advisors
and either change their schedule or get more information. Part of the communication
is to make sure that our advisors, our faculty, our staff, are getting the same information
in advance of the students so that we can be on point and consistent in our communications.
But we are on track to have a final fall schedule completed, and all the back office
materials done before or by about the 6th of July and begin to communicate out to
students.
Mark Anderson (08:28):
I believe Blaine talked a little bit about the opening of campus. We're preparing
some areas to coincide with the opening of campus so faculty can have access to recording
studios. So if they want to record lectures in advance, that that will be available.
We're working with IMT to make sure those resources are available to faculty. And
we'll have some more information about that in the coming weeks, in terms of signing
up and scheduling times to record materials for their instruction, for the fall. With
that, I will turn it over to Katrina.
Katrina Rodriguez (09:02):
Thank you, Mark. Let's see, updates for this week. We have approved for Dining Services
to have seated dining in our dining rooms, and so that was exciting. We also will
be providing some outdoor seating so that during the nice weather season, we'll have
some opportunities for students to be outdoors with their lunch or whatever meals
they would like. We will have our grab-and-go options. It'll have a large variety
of items students can pick up, and they'll also be able to pick up multiple grab-and-go,
and/or frozen meals if they would like to take several at a time, put those meals
into the refrigerator and then heat them up at another time. And so I'm excited about
that option for students.
Katrina Rodriguez (09:53):
We will not have buffets, again, just based on making sure that we're looking at all
of the guidelines from state and local governments or guidance, as also looking at
our restaurant associations and being in line with the guidance there. Similarly,
we will be operating our catering services, which will be open to the local community.
We have a lot of opportunities with community partners who utilize our catering. So
we will be able to do that beginning right away. And so community partners are excited
to get all that settled and ready to go.
Katrina Rodriguez (10:40):
And then finally something I know lots of people have been waiting for. And so finally
we have our very sophisticated process for move in. As I've said before, getting folks
up and down stairwells, and elevators, and trying to social distance as best as possible.
We have created a strategy. Beginning August 14th, students can move in. They will
be assigned a day and a time, that will go out with housing assignments, or some housing
assignments have been sent, so additional information will be sent regarding move
in, and if folks are feeling like that day and time is just prohibitive in some way,
there'll be instruction as to how to shift that time and day. And we'll have a lot
of communication going out about that. That is also ready to go. So truly just as
we speak, that is being set up and those will all be sent out by June 30th.
Katrina Rodriguez (11:43):
So we're excited for the fall. We're excited for all of these processes to have a
little more definition to them as we have utilized the guidance and creative ways
to both support and provide students with an excellent experience. So that is my report
for today. Thank you.
Dan Maxey (12:06):
Great. Thank you, Mark and Katrina for those updates, and to Blaine for updates from
the logistics working group. With that, I'll turn it back over to President Feinstein.
Andy Feinstein (12:15):
Thanks, Dan. And thanks to everybody for tuning in today, and as always stay safe,
be healthy, and we'll see you here again next week. Take care, everybody.