09:18:46 Provost Office Hours Tuesday 8/4/2020
09:30:26 good morning everyone! Thank you for joining the second provost office hours!
09:30:37 We have 160+ people and the numbers are climbing. Thank you for coming today.
09:30:48 Like last time, I have a short PowerPoint presentation then we will go to questions and feedback from the group.
09:31:02 Today I will share two things, first the PowerPoint slides as well as a new website they viewed yesterday.
09:31:06 I will start with the ---
09:31:15 PowerPoint slides.
09:31:17 Can you see that okay?
09:31:18 Hopefully yes.
09:31:23 Please put in the chat if you can not.
09:31:41 First of all, this is a reminder the office hours will be twice a week, through the end of next week. Through Aug 17 they will be every day. (Reading from slide)
09:31:59 We will pause August 28 to get the feel of the community. If useful, we will continue them.
09:32:13 Last week I talked about a format for typical office hours. This starts with an update on what we know in terms of Covid-19 trends and data.
09:32:15 [On Screen]
09:32:40 Last week I talked about announcing major topics in advance and that the PowerPoints and notes would be shared. So sue Provenzano distributed those last night for you.
09:32:44 She captured the question and answer for you.
09:32:50 So thank you to sue for making all this information available.
09:33:04 In terms of where we are on the Covid-19 statistics update, right now the data we have is from the New York forward dashboard.
09:33:08 We will add RIT data as soon as it flows in.
09:33:22 Currently the Finger Lakes region is in phase 4. The current percent Steve tests are 0.7% which is very low.
09:33:34 This week the New York forward site reports new cases per 100,000 at 2.47, that's a big drop from last week.
09:33:47 I'm not sure if I pulled the wrong case statistics last week, but we will know next week when the data is updated.
09:33:58 Right now the Finger Lakes region is very low in terms of percent positive tests and cases per 100,000.
09:34:10 Monroe County is a bit higher at .8% or 3 cases per 100,000 people.
09:34:23 If you want to consult the data directly, go to forward.ny.gov website. [On Screen]
09:34:29 These are all 7 day rolling average statistics.
09:34:40 I will highlight something that came out last week in terms of RIT's -- came out yesterday.
09:34:46 An important part of the accountability processes that RIT will use in fall.
09:35:06 Many of you had questions and wanted more specifics about how it is we can report a violation of the masking or physical distancing or quarantine requirements and how that will be handled within the University.
09:35:23 Yesterday the RIT ready newsletter rolled out a portal that any member of the community can use to report a violation.
09:35:50 The reports of faculty and staff are handled by Hr and students are handled by Student Affairs and facilities are handled by environment health and safety.
09:35:51 (Reading from slide)
09:35:54 These reports are not anonymous.
09:36:05 To complain anonymously you will use the ethics houtline.
09:36:08 I will try to open the website here.
09:36:20 This way, we can all see it.
09:36:23 I will share the screen again.
09:36:31 so, hopefully you can see these.
09:36:43 When you open the portal for this Covid-19 report for violations, this is what you will see.
09:36:47 You will see your own information first.
09:36:48 (Reading from slide).
09:36:54 If you know who was involved, enter that information.
09:36:58 If you don't know, no problem.
09:37:03 You are asked to describe what you want to report.
09:37:17 This can be a missing shield in the classroom or a group of people not physically distancing for example.
09:37:21 Could be an individual without a mask.
09:37:34 any behavior can be reported here.
09:37:42 Can you submit a photo was one of the questions from last week, the answer is yes.
09:37:50 You may not know the individual but you can take a picture of them and upload into this area here.
09:37:53 It shows supporting documentation.
09:38:06 Any additional information can be submitted there. I did ask about photos and they are something that you can upload.
09:38:11 That's the website. This is running now.
09:38:16 I know some of you are already returning to campus.
09:38:22 This is available to you if you see something that concerns you.
09:38:33 Keep in mind facilities concerns can be input here also.
09:38:52 the last topic that I wanted to make some comments on today is the question of safety in the classroom.
09:39:05 I know this is a big topic of concern for us especially as we get closer to the day classes start.
09:39:14 I had long conversations with medical experts and did reading myself.
09:39:27 What is important that all of us keep in mind is the degree of control that faculty members have over what goes on in the classroom.
09:39:46 When there's a big unknown and you have not been in the classroom for months or on campus, it's very natural to have concerns.
09:40:04 The air conditioning is back on now so you can go to classrooms and get familiar with the environment. It's highly controlled.
09:40:08 I will talk about what I mean.
09:40:35 First of all, everyone is masked in the classroom as well as physically distanced. We put in place both of these. Where distancing can't be done, additional PPE can be used.
09:40:49 When you have both masking as well as physical distancing that definitely reduces spread
09:41:03 Spread occurs when people are not distancing or when people are not necessarily wearing masks.
09:41:23 the faculty member does most talking as well as projecting. Students don't do that as much. The environment in the room is controlled.
09:41:38 Faculty members will assign seats for contact tracing. If there's enough room in the classroom you can make even more than 6' distancing.
09:41:44 Wendy Gelbert explained this to me
09:41:50 Think about a classroom environment vs. what is happening when you go to Wegman's.
09:42:02 At Wegman's, you don't have nearly the control you have in the classroom.
09:42:19 It's important to keep in mind we have a lot of power to mold the environment in the classroom to enhance safety.
09:42:26 I know there's a lot of publicity now about aerosolized transmission.
09:42:43 That's a reason why masks and combination of physical distancing is very important and then we have ionizing units and they help a great deal.
09:42:52 So to open this up, I wanted to offer those thoughts and we will see where the discussion goes.
09:42:56 That's the end of my formal comments.
09:43:12 Reminder -- we are continuing to work through the questions asked at last week's town hall and those will be posted on the Google doc.
09:43:22 You can always access the call center for clarification on anything.
09:43:27 I did that in 13 minutes!
09:43:29 We will open the chat now.
09:43:51 there are 36 comments we will go through.
09:44:06 Question from Audience:
09:44:08 I went to RIT yesterday to pick up my technology package and I happen to walk by ROSS building since my in person class that starts August 19 is in ROSS A310. Nothing has been done to the bathrooms there-no touchless paper towel dispensers, no touchless soap dispensers, faucets are not touchless, hand dryers still connected, the classroom is not ready for social distancing since all 77 chairs are still there, no document camera in the podium, etc. Then I read the staff meeting minutes that said
09:44:16 Ellen: We will follow up with FMS on this.
09:44:28 The bathrooms where you may have been in Ross/Carlson may not have been done yet. Thank you for letting us know.
09:44:40 Question from Audience:
09:44:41 DSO is using qualifying language for student accommodations for exclusively online instruction that appears to be problematically different from the “reasonable” vs “unreasonable” benchmark statement we have been using in Academic Affairs. In an email from Catherine Lewis, Director Disability Services, I was told that the benchmark being used is “...poses a fundamental alteration to the objectives/nature of a course,…” That could require any in-person modality course, that could be changed to o
09:45:05 Ellen: I have been involved with Catherine Lewis and others preparing for this.
09:45:23 So there's a good understanding that the faculty members can't deliver two fundamentally different courses, online and face-to-face.
09:45:28 We can address what is going on there.
09:45:37 Comment from audience: Q+A was Very helpful to see in writing. Thank You Sue Provenzano!
09:45:49 I believe the interpreter is spotlighted now, thank you.
09:46:02 Question from Audience:
09:46:03 Has consideration been given to modernizing the restrooms to have floor-to-ceiling partitions, both to maintain restroom capacity while 1/ protecting against covid transmission, 2/ preventing lines in the hallways by opening all restrooms to everyone, and 3/ responding to the many discussions over the last few years of various genders' restroom needs?
09:46:13 Ellen: I don't know the answer but we will follow up and get an answer.
09:46:20 I don't think they have, but we will get experts to respond to that.
09:46:31 Question from Audience: 1/3: Last Monday, College of Science School Heads were asked to identify which courses in their units could achieve their learning objectives in a purely remote/online delivery mode. They subsequently asked faculty scheduled to teach those classes if they would prefer teaching them online. Many faculty indicated this preference, in large part due to the failure of RIT to provide any other options for faculty who will have to care for children who must stay home at least t
09:47:20 Ellen: this discussion took place in the College of science and the idea for all colleges is we have about 1/3 of classes online then the rest blended or face-to-face.
09:47:26 I understand there are concerns about restarting.
09:47:48 There are worries of going back in the classroom and the overlay of the schools doesn't make that any easier.
09:48:00 There's a balance we are trying to strike between making sure the faculty feel cared for and feel they have say in what happens in fall.
09:48:07 At the same time we have to balance that with student needs.
09:48:12 (Please mute your microphones )
09:48:22 There's a $75 reimbursement for the care.com membership for some faculty.
09:48:35 HR is looking at ways to support faculty and staff with childcare concerns. That's a tough issue for all universities.
09:48:42 I have talked to other provosts to see what we can do.
09:48:50 It's a tough problem to solve. No University has figured out how to address this.
09:48:55 It's a tough one. I don't have an answer right now.
09:49:02 Question from Audience:
09:49:04 Information says students and faculty will be sanitizing the classrooms with sanitizer provided by FMS available in classrooms. Does that mean they will be communal bottles we must share with everyone in the classroom ? if we all need to wash hands after using communal bottles there will be a run on the restrooms.
09:49:25 Ellen: Yes, good point. Don't forget there are hand sanitizer stations all over the academic buildings. This is not necessarily a rush on the restrooms.
09:49:33 The sanitizer that will be available is very good and strong.
09:49:40 So we encourage people to use that when they come in, leave, or both.
09:49:49 Question from Audience: is there a portal to ask a question for the Provost?
09:50:00 Ellen: The chat is the portal or you can private message me. You can post question in chat so everyone can see.
09:50:06 The question and answer function is only available for webinars.
09:50:16 We wanted this more personal so we decided to use the zoom meeting format.
09:50:25 Question from Audience:
09:50:26 Has there been any discussion of the conclusions of the Yale study that just came out - that to reopen safely, campuses should test (even if the tests are low quality) students every 2-3 days? https://news.yale.edu/2020/07/31/students-need-be-tested-every-2-3-days-colleges-safely-reopen
09:50:40 Testing strategies are being looked at, but I don't think we will be doing that every 2 days.
09:50:45 They are taking into account how things are moving around the country.
09:50:58 There will be more information coming out about specifics of that testing strategy before campus opens. They are looking at the study.
09:51:03 I don't think we will test everyone every 2-3 days.
09:51:15 Every testing strategy looks different. We have waste water, surveillance testing, and testing for symptoms. It's robust.
09:51:24 This is all for RIT. They are always looking at how to enhance this.
09:51:35 Question from Audience:
09:51:36 2/3: COS made changes to course modalities to reflect these preferences, and the changes were recently posted to SIS. Yet, yesterday, COS faculty learned that you were not happy with this action because it takes too many options away from students, and you have ordered the COS Executive team to force many of these faculty members back into the classroom, even though they will be able to achieve the learning objectives for their courses in an online modality.3/3: Can you explain to exactly why w
09:51:45 Ellen: I will address this briefly.
09:51:50 (Reading from chat)
09:52:04 Ellen: It's not a question of whether or not there wasn't a good faith effort made.
09:52:29 When a single college tries to move, and this is what occurred, over 70% of critical sections specifically and fully to online, there's a huge ripple effect across the whole student body and all colleges.
09:52:40 It's not something a single college can do without causing other significant problems for other colleges.
09:53:01 What we are trying to do is balance all the different competing factors. The students are still planning to come to campus and expecting a mix of courses that include some online, blended and some face-to-face.
09:53:15 If some departments move 100% online, it takes away the ability of other colleges to have their own mix of courses online.
09:53:25 That's the issue of what happened in science and why we couldn't support what faculty were recommending.
09:53:35 Question from Audience:
09:53:36 Are there any concerns about the reputation of the institute given the mixed communication/delayed communication/lack of communication regarding testing requirements for students living in campus housing? I'm reading comments on Reddit that do not paint RIT in a good light.
09:54:03 Ellen: Reddit generally are some of the strongest critics. It's important feedback for us, but I'm not entirely sure what you are thinking about when you talk about delayed or lack of communication on testing requirements.
09:54:11 If you are talking about students and campus housing, I support that requirement.
09:54:26 It's possible that there may be some people that felt it came out too late or didn't agree, but I think it's very important to try to start our semester in a positive way.
09:54:42 So I think for me, I will accept that criticism. I think that's the right thing to do.
09:54:42 qfa
09:54:44 Question from Audience:
09:54:55 When will smaller classrooms in Eastman be set up for instruction. Many of the smaller classrooms do not have the shield up front of the classroom. These smaller rooms are more concerning than the larger rooms given the closer proximity and smaller space compared to larger rooms. I was on campus yesterday and noticed that many of these rooms are not ready.
09:54:59 Ellen: We will check on all of these.
09:55:09 Question from Audience: Now that we are in phase 4, is the process of opening labs still the same as it was when we went to the first phase of reopening?
09:55:15 Ellen: no.
09:55:28 The process now, because in phase 4 the campus is fully reopening. The process for opening labs is less onerous.
09:55:37 You have everything you need to open safely, and as long as you have that you are able to open.
09:55:46 There's information on the VPR's website about lab reopenings.
09:55:55 Question from Audience:
09:55:56 There has been a recognition of flexibility in teaching modalities (e.g., "week by week shifts or moving specific modalities"). Have there been discussions about the merits of a graduated start to in-person classes where the front end of the course (maybe the first 2-3 weeks) are delivered fully online and then in-person instruction is phased in depending on an analysis of some of the risk management metrics (e.g., tracking app stats, % positivity, etc.)?
09:56:10 Ellen: that is something that did get discussion and there are pros and cons to this.
09:56:34 The biggest concern, there are two: One is it actually runs the risk of making campus less safe because if students are not going to classes, they are congregating in dorms more and not getting out and seeing campus.
09:56:38 Medical people have a concern about this option.
09:56:52 The other concern is that we have students coming with a schedule where they are expecting to be in class part of the time.
09:57:01 We have a commitment there that we have to consider in terms of what students expect.
09:57:26 In the contingency plan, there are points there were we to see an increase in waste water testing for example or have an increase in test rates, that would be a situation where we may move classes online for some time to calm that down.
09:57:38 That would be done in concert with other controls around campus. It would not be just limited to online classes
09:57:51 Question from Audience: In classrooms, plexiglass set for Professor - are there any set for Interpreters?
09:58:10 Ellen: Interpreters will have masks or face shields. The reason for the plexiglas is faculty are speaking and projecting.
09:58:27 So the need for that plexiglas is to put yet another limit or curb any particles that may drift from the mask when the faculty member is projecting.
09:58:41 Question from Audience:
09:58:42 Can you please address how you see the process for sanitization of classrooms between classes? It seems like different colleges / departments are adopting different protocols. These inconsistent policies seem like they could result in rooms not being cleaned (e.g. one dept. opts to clean before class, the other after class depending on the order the departments use the same room in the room may not get cleaned).
09:59:06 Ellen: I'm not in a position to comment on that right now. I don't know the details of differences between colleges but we will follow up on this and get that information when we distribute the question and answer.
09:59:17 I'm going through the chat. People are answering one another which is fantastic.
10:00:04 Ellen: The ionizing air technology is going into buildings with the largest concentration of students. The idea is the units are useful and make a difference with a good number of classrooms and students going through the. I believe ionizers have been ordered and more classrooms will be receiving those.
10:00:18 There are lots of student team meetings that happen throughput the semester . . .
10:00:20 Question from audience:
10:00:53 This is a great question. Its a combination of 2 things. If its possible for students to hold their meetings via zoom that is a good idea particularly that half the student meeting areas have half their capacity removed.
10:01:19 There are times when students have to work together and for that we would follow meeting guidelines and that applies to any situation where people need to meet in person. What that requires is a room that is big enough for physical distancing and everyone needs to be masked.
10:01:28 The combination of the meeting and academic deadlines would be there.
10:01:31 The question is about slack.
10:01:44 That has been approved and that is, that will be a tool that will be available to everyone this fall.
10:01:54 The next question. Will site monitors be observing and will they ....
10:02:03 [Reading question]
10:02:38 The site safety monitors are not necessarily charged with patrolling the hallways and looking for people with problematic behavior. They are responsible for understanding the expectations. It would be okay for them to point it out when protocols are being violated. Everyone needs to do the same thing.
10:03:00 The, I talked about this last week. Its very important that everyone speak up. If they see if a protocol is being violated. If you feel comfortable doing it you should speak to the person you see violating the protocols.
10:03:28 Some people may not feel comfortable speaking to the person and in that case you can submit the report. You can also do both and I think its ideal to do both, confront the person and make it clear what you expect of them and to file the report if its appropriate.
10:03:42 As far as sanitizer bottles go, one could sanitize the others.
10:03:58 Okay from Jennifer, for faculty teaching with online lecture and in person. Does the A B model exist .... [reading question]
10:04:26 So each faculty specified how they wanted the A B model to work. The answer is different for different classes. I don't know the detail how each faculty set up that information. There is a wide variety of ways to handle that.
10:04:31 Why is the university not handing out hand sanitizer.
10:04:34 [Reading question]
10:05:07 So what my understanding is the central FMS is putting out 900 hand sanitizer units. I don't know how deeply they go into the colleges and we will follow up on these and see what is going on in terms of the difference between where the 900 go and what the colleges are doing.
10:05:13 We have a question that was sent to me privately. Let me take a look.
10:05:51 a few questions came in, is there is a specific time when club coaches will be tested, they should be tested on the same schedule as students or faculty. Is a clear mask acceptable to wear and does the school have some we can have?
10:06:14 Every employee will receive a clear mask. There is going to be situations where you are going to need to put it on because you will interact with someone that is deaf or hard of hearing. So clear masks will be received.
10:06:51 Is there any updates in regards to the child care support? HR is working with a group of faculty have staff. They have been working through different options. The one thing that is confirmed is the $75 reimbursement through care.com. We will know in the next week if RIT is going to do anything else.
10:06:59 Okay. Have any guidelines been set up for peer tutors.
10:07:10 We normally have peer tutors in our computer labs and there is no plexiglass set up.
10:07:32 So we will have to get some information for you on that. If the peer tutoring is taking place in the lab then there could be plexiglass or you could use masks and face shields. So we will have to get more detail for you on that.
10:07:43 Do faculty with little kids can teach online?
10:08:14 This will be a difficult issue. Right now there is not an exception or an automatic accommodation to move a class online if an individual is facing child care issues. I think you should talk to your department head to get some assistance with managing that.
10:08:32 From Dawn, from a faculty member in the RIT guidelines appendix J has a checklist off list.
10:08:37 That looks like that was a comment.
10:08:53 So another question that came in, I love RIT and the students and being a teacher but I am afraid. How can I lessen my apprehension?
10:09:20 A lot of us are having that feeling. I will share what I do and what I have been told by other faculty that they find helpful. An important piece is understanding what we can control. Faculty members have a great deal of control.
10:09:57 I do think its important to recognize that and realize there is a lot of control and the environment with physical distancing combined with masking and other controls is an environment with a lot of safety. We have not been able to quantify that. But its safer than going grocery shopping.
10:10:12 I think the other thing is to go back to campus. That is something I have been doing. I have been returning to campus and that is an important element of making this more familiar.
10:10:41 The one thing I want to mention also is that something like covid19, its something where we are wired to pay attention to. Threats that are new is something that we give a lot of attention to. Its very normal to feel apprehension.
10:10:56 From a faculty member. Is it possible to have a rapid response.
10:11:31 One piece is what do you do in the moment. The other is piece is what happens to a student that violates the masks policy. What do you do in the moment? If you are in a class you, the first thing you do is tell the student to put the mask on. Suppose a student doesn't put the mask on.
10:11:54 Then you have the student leave the classroom. Then as we have talked before you have the option to bring in public safety if the student doesn't put on a mask and refuses to leave. I think there will be support from other students.
10:12:19 They will expect everyone in the class to comply. That is in the moment in the classroom. This applies to offices. If a student comes to an office without a mask we need to tell them to get a masks and come back.
10:12:57 I do not except staff to work with students if the student is not masked. The next part is the disciplinary follow up. The way to activate this is to report the student in the portal. Then it becomes a matter of official record and its investigated. We will have records if that students has had multiple issues with masking.
10:13:21 Then the student will be addressed in a formal way in correcting their behavior. If they do not correct their behavior they will not be able to come to campus. There is something similar with employees not wearing masks.
10:13:30 Is their any consideration to half days with child care?
10:13:53 I don't know if HR has looked at that. They did look at running camps or having drop off areas. There are liabilities for RIT and that makes it difficult for RIT to provide that support.
10:14:26 So there is a comment in the chat that is similar to what Nathan wrote earlier. Steve - I feel the 4 foot wide shields hinder our ability. I asked about extending the shields so that instructors could use the white board.
10:14:56 I do know plexiglass is hard to get because many universities need it. Its possible there is an expense associated with that. The other thing you can do if you want to move out and into the room and use the white board and you have a concern about doing that and moving from the plexiglass.
10:15:28 Something you can do is use a face sheild in addition to your mask and that will give you more protection. There is that option available and the same is true, when I did teaching I did a lot of group work. You can use a face shield for extra protection.
10:15:38 Are new faculty given this information?
10:16:11 In terms of new faculty they will get an orientation and a crash course. We are not going to post the recording from these sessions. We will go with the Q and A from these minutes. The Q and A gives you the details, all the questions that were asked and then the responses.
10:16:33 So next question. What happens after one positive covid case. Do all the in-person classes go online if there is a person that tests positive in a classroom.
10:16:41 There is a number of questions set within this particular one. So let me take these one at a time.
10:17:10 So what happens after one positive covid test case. That will depend on what the overall environment is. We fully expect individuals will test positive for covid19 who are part of the RIT community. There have been a few people in the pre-testing. They tested positive.
10:17:20 The response to one positive covid test case is really going to depend on what is happening.
10:17:41 If its one positive test case and our surveillance testing is even I don't know if that would trigger a serious response. It has to be understood in the context of everything going on.
10:18:13 The question about in-person classes going on, the answer is not necessarily. When you have physical distancing and masking its not automatic that everyone has to go into quarantine. Its a function of what is happening and in relation to the person who tested positive.
10:18:56 That is where the contact tracing interviewers come into play. They will identify who will go into quarantine. Its not necessary for everyone in a class to go into quarantine because we are using masking and physical distancing. The last question is why are we using 7 as a benchmark.
10:19:02 That is a report of where RIT is now. That is not a benchmark.
10:19:16 Okay we have a lot of questions that are backed up here and we have about 10 minutes. I will try to move through and see if there are new topics that we haven't talked about.
10:19:25 Okay I just talked about the contact tracing and those are good questions.
10:20:56 Here is a question, is there is a citation for a study that demonstrates a return to campus is safer than shopping. That is information that I got from Wendy who is our director for wellness and she is a physician. She is our primary contact with public health in Monroe County. Its not a specific study but it is if you think about the activity that goes on in a trip to Wegmans compared to the control in a classroom.
10:21:02 I find that to be a useful way to think about it.
10:21:32 Let's see, we have had some employees go to campus prior to the covid testing mandate. Is there is a specific date where if you haven't had a test you can't be on campus. I believe its August 17th but the call center can check the facts for you.
10:22:28 Another question can students provide a medical exemption to someone that would be provided to instructors and then we put the student up front without confrontation. In rare circumstances students do not have to wear masks but that is very rare and specific and will come through the disability services office for that information
10:23:32 Got a few more points about what is happening in science. This is faculty that feel they should put their classes online. I think I responded to this question but I will say again. This is the situation when you have departments that are critical for the education of all students, for those departments to move large classes online won't work for the university.
10:23:59 Online is good for teaching certain classes but different students learn differently. We have gotten letters to make sure classes are face to face from students as well as students that want classes online.
10:24:30 Students learn differently. To push gigantic sections, 100% of critical courses to a solely online option puts the rest of the university in a difficult position and that is not something we can do. I understand that folks may not be happy with that response but that is where we are as an institution.
10:24:52 How are we doing? Okay, about 5 minutes. Why are employees working remotely being included in the denominator when calculating the total positive numbers on campus.
10:25:22 At this point we are not reporting percentages on campus. Right now we have reports that are coming in from people coming in from getting their tests. There is no percentage being reported right now. What I showed you earlier is the Finger Lakes region of percent positive.
10:25:36 I will share with you every time we meet about what is happening in the region and RIT's campus. So the .7% is the region and not our campus.
10:25:45 What is next?
10:26:24 From a faculty member and this is being transmitted. If one of my students tests positive will I be informed? You will be notified because your student should not be in class. They will have to quarantine for 14 days. We are still working through what that will look like.
10:26:46 Can any ASL teacher use only facial shields during the ASL instruction and the teacher will wear a mask after the class. There are many facial instructions.
10:26:52 That is a question specific to ASL.
10:27:04 There are lots of variables and there are single checklists that would be helpful for new hires.
10:27:31 That is being worked on. A list of final preparation and a list of things to do in class is being put together. Regarding PPE if I do not have a full face shield are goggles sufficient?
10:27:46 The university has procured face shields. If any faculty member wants a face shield they can get one from the university.
10:28:09 Will managers and supervisors receive notices about faculty and staff that have not completed all the training? I believe the answer is yes but we will confirm that.
10:28:20 We have another comment from Dawn and I think I have addressed that so I will not repeat that.
10:28:30 What if the best student base for learning is online, can we move online?
10:29:04 I think it is very important that everyone realize that different students learn differently. I know this has been a real tension, a point of tension. We need to start our semester and do the very best that we can for our students. We are going to learn as things go on and so its possible that something may adjust.
10:29:41 At this point is we are starting with a combination of online and blended and face to face. We need to start and learn whether there are adjustments that are needed. There is the question about how to get a face shield and we will get that information out. We have about 5000 face shields for employees.
10:30:14 So we are about 15 seconds away from 10:30am. I want to thank everyone that posted to the chat. Its important that we have exchange and ideas and the tough questions are asked. I want everyone to know I appreciate your participation and I know it shows that we all really care about what happens.
10:30:35 So we will do another one of these on Thursday morning at 9:30am. Thank you again to everyone. We had a lot of follow up in the chat so thank you to Sue and her staff and we will try to get those answers out.
10:30:37 Everyone have a great day.
10:30:38 Bye.
