On June 2, we announced initial guidance on wearing face coverings on campus. Since then the research, guidance, and advice from medical experts and public health officials has continued to evolve. We now know that wearing a simple face covering provides valuable, albeit imperfect, protection against the spread of COVID-19, and it is a visual reminder that we must all take precautions to protect our own health and all of those around us. These precautions are important because individuals can carry COVID-19 with no apparent symptoms, and face coverings reduce the possibility that we might unknowingly infect others.
Experts also suggest that extra precautions may be appropriate in communities that have higher levels of COVID-19 spread or risk of spread because of larger populations, living environments, etc. We have such communities on campus and must exercise caution accordingly.
Considering all of this, we are updating our earlier recommendation regarding face coverings.
Effective July 1 and continuing until rescinded, all University of Minnesota Duluth students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors, service providers, vendors, and suppliers) are required to use an appropriate face covering at all times when in any enclosed or indoor space on University campuses and properties with the following exceptions:
When eating or drinking; however, physical distancing must be practiced.
In your assigned on-campus apartment or residence hall room.
When you are alone in a room or where a posted and official University notice indicates masks are not needed.
When you are alone in a motor vehicle.
If you are unable to wear a face covering while exercising at the Sports and Health Center.
In labs or other places that instead require use of a respirator.
An individual with a religious accommodation through Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action.
Coverings
are strongly encouraged while outdoors on campus grounds, but are not
required. We expect you to maintain physical distancing guidelines if
you are not wearing a face covering outside.
The full face covering protocol can be found at the Return to Campus website. An extensive FAQ is also available online.
In addition to wearing a face covering, it is imperative to continue
other basic, but critically important, prevention measures. We should
frequently wash our hands with soap and water, minimize how often we
touch our faces, monitor our health, and above all else, stay home if we
feel sick. These easy actions are among the most effective tools we
have to maintain the health of everyone in our communities.
We are a community. We can help keep each other safe and be part of the solution. Please join me in committing to the University’s community pledge to protect yourself, your fellow students, staff, faculty, and our community.
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff, Today,
Juneteenth, is an important day that commemorates the emancipation of
Black people from slavery. Today we celebrate the freedom and
independence of Black people as we advocate for all people who are
underrepresented and marginalized in our country. This year’s Juneteenth
commemoration is marked by a new energy for change amid the recent
troubling and wrenching killings of Black people. Unfortunately, freedom
has not and is not applied equally to all people in our country.
Within
the current calls to further recognize and end racial injustice, today
feels especially significant. As a public university, we have a
responsibility to utilize our resources and knowledge to support Black
communities, other communities of color, Indigenous communities, and
LGBTQ communities at UMD and across Minnesota as we work towards
significant change. I encourage you all to reflect and educate
yourselves on this important history. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Celebrating Juneteenth is a worthwhile start.
Another
significant milestone occurred this week with the Supreme Court’s
decision to protect LGBTQ civil rights and deny efforts to end legal
protections for young immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) program. These decisions align with our values and
continuous support to all members of our campus community. Along with
President Gabel and other higher education leaders across the country, I
remain committed to advocating for the continued support of DACA and
the continued goal of providing access to higher education for all. In
September 2017, I joined chancellors and presidents, who are members of
the American Council on Education, in a national letter of support for
DACA. I encourage you to learn more about the DACA program and the work
of the University of Minnesota Immigration Response Team.
On this special day, you have my best wishes for health and peace.
In addition to dealing with and adjusting to COVID-19, the pain, frustration, and fear created by the killing of George Floyd continues to disturb me and our UMD community. As I work to take meaningful action, I am listening to your concerns and thoughtfully considering the many suggestions and requests that have come to me over the past few weeks. In addition, I am working with the Vice Chancellors, Director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion Susana Pelayo-Woodward, the Campus Climate Leadership Team, and UMD faculty, staff, and student leadership to develop specific action plans to move our critical work in equity, diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice to new levels, to address structural racism, and to demand accountability from units and departments on addressing equity and inclusion.
The Campus Climate Leadership Team meets next week, and we will develop the process to identify new initiatives, programs, and scholarships, as well as the process to examine systems that impact campus climate. We will move forward plans to increase required training for faculty, staff, and students in diversity, equity, inclusion, and implicit bias. We will work with students and partners to ensure equitable access to technology on and off campus.
We will work closely with our UMD Police Department and with the police and public safety departments in the Twin Ports area to ensure all members of our community are treated equitably with a primary focus on public safety.
Fall 2020
I am looking forward to this upcoming fall semester that will provide our students with the exceptional educational experience you deserve and expect, while prioritizing the safety of our campus community. This week, the president of the University of Minnesota System, Joan Gabel, outlined the University’s plans for fall semester. I want to share UMD’s roadmap for welcoming you back to campus.
Please know, the University continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. We invite you back to campus this fall in accordance with public health guidelines and with the following in mind:
The University as a whole is doing everything it can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our University community.
We all have an important role to play: being honest about our own health and keeping others around us safe.
Adjustments to our instructional, recreational, and living spaces will take place in order to support a safe and productive learning environment. This includes appropriate physical distancing and the availability of masks and hand sanitizing stations. We are also currently considering extending the instructional day with some courses offered during evening hours, moving some courses or portions of courses online, and adapting student support services for both in-person and virtual delivery.
All areas of UMD are engaged in planning a fall semester that can adapt as needed while supporting your academic goals. Any changes to your schedule and classes will be communicated in your MyU account on or before August 1. We will start our fall semester as scheduled with classes beginning August 31, cancel the fall break, and end face-to-face classes by the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Details about campus services after Thanksgiving will be shared as the summer progresses.
I can assure you that all adjustments prioritize the well-being of our community members and are made in consultation with public health guidance. Please visit the UMD Coronavirus website for more information about this plan.
We will keep you informed as fall planning continues. In the meantime, I encourage you to remain committed to your educational, career, and personal goals. At this time, we hope to have a full spring 2021 semester, but we have to continue to be flexible as public health conditions evolve.
Best wishes and I look forward to seeing you in the fall.
In addition to dealing with and adjusting to COVID-19, the pain, frustration, and fear created by the killing of George Floyd continues to disturb me and our UMD community. As I work to take meaningful action for our campus, I am listening to your concerns and thoughtfully considering the many suggestions and requests that have come to me over the past few weeks. In addition, I am working with the Vice Chancellors, Susana Pelayo-Woodward, the Campus Climate Leadership Team, and UMD faculty, staff, and student leaders to develop specific action plans to move our critical work in equity, diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice to new levels, to address structural racism, and to demand accountability from units and departments on addressing equity and inclusion.
The Campus Climate Leadership Team meets next week, and we will develop the process to identify new initiatives, programs, and scholarships, as well as the process to examine systems that impact campus climate. We will move forward plans to increase required training for faculty, staff, and students in diversity, equity, inclusion, and implicit bias. We will work with students and partners to ensure equitable access to technology on and off campus. We will work closely with our UMD Police Department and with the police and public safety departments in the Twin Ports area to ensure all members of our community are treated equitably with a primary focus on public safety.
Fall 2020
This week, University of Minnesota System President Joan Gabel outlined the University’s plans for fall semester. To build upon President Gabel’s proposal, which was approved today by the Board of Regents, I want to share UMD’s roadmap for welcoming students, faculty, and staff back to campus.
As always, I am looking forward to a fall semester that provides our new and returning students with the exceptional educational experience they expect, while prioritizing the safety of our campus community. Please know, the University continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. UMD is committed to the prevention of COVID-19 spreading even as we look toward normalizing operations in accordance with public health guidelines and with the following in mind:
The University as a whole is doing everything it can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our University community.
We all have an important role to play: being honest about our own health and keeping others around us safe.
Students will be on campus for the fall semester and we will alter the ways we work and learn to make our campus as safe as possible for our entire UMD community.
These
changes will include things such as reworking classroom spaces to allow
for appropriate physical distancing, providing hand sanitizing stations
and masks for members of our campus community, and adding sneeze guards
and fixed partitions where necessary according to Minnesota Department
of Health guidelines. Classes will be offered in alternative formats,
and the instructional day will be extended with additional evening
classes. We will use staggered work shifts, have in-office and
out-of-office days each week, and adapt student support services for
both in-person and virtual delivery. We will start our fall semester as
scheduled with classes beginning August 31, cancel the fall break, and
end face-to-face classes by the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. After
Thanksgiving, most classes and exams will occur through distance
modalities.
Ending Extended Reduced Operations
On Monday, June 22, we will end our extended reduced operations status and ease domestic travel restrictions. If you are able to work from home you should continue to do so. Any individual or unit seeking to return to work should continue to work with their supervisor and follow the Sunrise Plan process.
While the pandemic requires us to operate differently this fall semester, these adjustments prioritize the wellbeing of the campus and provide us the flexibility to adapt as necessary depending on public health guidance. These changes and public health considerations also allow us to have significant numbers of students on campus, while keeping our community as safe as they will be in other public locations. Please visit the UMD Coronavirus website for more information about this plan. At this time, we hope to have a full spring 2021 semester, but we have to continue to be flexible as public health conditions evolve.
Thank you for your outstanding work during this difficult time. I look forward to seeing you and our students this fall.
I am looking forward to this upcoming fall semester that will provide our new students with the exceptional educational experience you deserve and expect, while prioritizing the safety of our campus community. This week, the president of the University of Minnesota System, Joan Gabel, outlined the University’s plans for fall semester. I want to share UMD’s roadmap for welcoming you to campus.
Please know, the University continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. We invite you to campus this fall in accordance with public health guidelines and with the following in mind:
The University as a whole is doing everything it can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our University community.
We all have an important role to play: being honest about our own health and keeping others around us safe.
Adjustments to our instructional, recreational, and living spaces will take place in order to support a safe and productive learning environment. This includes appropriate physical distancing and the availability of masks and hand sanitizing stations. We are also currently considering extending the instructional day with some courses offered during evening hours, moving some courses or portions of courses online, and adapting student support services for both in-person and virtual delivery.
All areas of UMD are engaged in planning a fall semester that can adapt as needed while supporting your successful transition to UMD. Any changes to your schedule and classes will be communicated in your MyU account on or before August 1. We will start our fall semester as scheduled with classes beginning August 31.
I can assure you that all adjustments prioritize the well-being of our community members and are made in consultation with public health guidance. Please visit the UMD Coronavirus website for more information about this plan.
We will keep you informed as fall planning continues. In the meantime, I encourage you to remain committed to your educational, career, and personal goals. We look forward to welcoming you to campus this August and to supporting your success every step of the way. At this time, we hope to have a full spring 2021 semester, but we have to continue to be flexible as public health conditions evolve.
In addition to dealing with and adjusting to COVID-19, the pain, frustration, and fear created by the killing of George Floyd continues to disturb me and our UMD community. As I work to take meaningful action, I am listening to your concerns and thoughtfully considering the many suggestions and requests that have come to me over the past few weeks. In addition, I am working with UMD administrators, faculty, staff, and student leadership to develop specific action plans to move our critical work in equity, diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice to new levels, to address structural racism, and to demand accountability from units and departments on addressing equity and inclusion. We will continue to work with students and partners to ensure equitable access to technology on and off campus.
Best wishes and I look forward to seeing you in the fall.
We
want to thank you for your exceptional effort in pivoting this past
spring to alternative modes of work and engagement with our students. We
know that for many of you, this summer is unlike past summers and not
what we had planned. Above all, we hope you, your family, and those
close to you are healthy, well, and safe during these extraordinarily
challenging times.
Our goal with this message is to follow up on President Gabel’s message
of earlier today, to offer some advance notice on our thinking for Fall
2020 and offer resources that will ensure that we can be more planful
in our development and delivery of instruction. In consultation with the
Minnesota Department of Health, guidance from our own public health
experts, and with input from the university community received via an
online survey, the Fall Scenarios Advisory Team is recommending to the President and the Board of Regents a plan for residential instruction this Fall.
You will be able to see a more complete description of that recommendation in the Board’s docket materials, including a summary of implications for housing and dining, outreach and engagement, and other domains.
In the educational space, that recommendation includes:
Physical distancing in classrooms, which will reduce capacity and availability.
An enhanced classroom cleaning schedule, which may further reduce availability.
Extended classroom hours (8am - 10pm), and on some campuses possibly increased Saturday classes.
Use of masks and other barriers (e.g. plexiglass), in a manner consistent with public health guidance at the time.
As always, our final implementation will be subject to Board of Regents approval.
As
we look toward the fall we are urging our faculty and instructors to
consider the learning outcomes of their course, and identify what they
feel must be delivered in-person and what can be delivered remotely. We
will also look to flexibility with policies that would allow instructors
to elect or switch to alternative modes of delivery as they see fit. We
encourage them to explore creative alternative and hybrid strategies,
and remind all that accommodations may be necessary if students,
faculty, or staff need to be isolated/quarantined or if public health
guidance requires another pivot.
We
are further considering possible changes to the Fall academic calendar.
Our goal is to reduce the travel of students between campus and their
family homes. While this may look different on each system campus, at
UMD this could involve a normal start with in-person instruction
concluding before Thanksgiving break, staying with the traditional
calendar and planning to deliver the last three weeks of the semester
via a distanced modality, or ending the period of in-person instruction
early but “intensifying” contact hours each week. This would also likely
necessitate eliminating the fall break.
We
understand that academic calendar governance, contract dates, and other
HR changes will need to be considered in evaluating and implementing
these scenarios. If needed, these processes will begin after the Board
of Regents’ meeting next week.
We
are taking one step at a time and at this time we do not have all of
the answers to how this will affect units that offer student services
and co-curricular activities. There are related questions about what
this means for staff returning to campus to work. Please remember that
those employees who are able to work from home, should continue to do so
at this time. The systemwide Sunrise Plan
will continue to evolve and we anticipate that the answers to return to
work questions will be answered through that process. We have asked our
unit leaders to work with their teams in developing scenarios to help
us plan and prepare as we learn more.
The
public health situation continues to evolve, and we may need to pivot
from or refine this plan, either before the semester begins or possibly
in the middle of the semester if an outbreak occurs. Thank you in
advance for your flexibility and resilience, as we together seek to
deliver on our academic mission while enhancing safety and health.
Sincerely,
Fernando Delgado Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Lisa Erwin Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Dean of Students
Sue Bosell Interim Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations
You have likely seen President Gabel's message from yesterday
calling for a systemwide closure of campus at noon on Thursday, June 4.
Thursday marks a somber event in the history of Minnesota and with
George Floyd's memorial we reach the next chapter of a sad and unfolding
story. Many of our colleagues, students, and alumni in Duluth, the Twin
Cities, and elsewhere have been deeply and personally impacted by the
events of the past week. Chancellor Black, the vice chancellors, and I
certainly welcome both President Gabel's prudence and calls for
reflection.
The
UMD campus, including virtual operations, will close at noon today.
Normal operations will resume Friday, June 5 at 5:30 a.m. Like a weather
closure, most employees will not be working after the University closes
at noon today, with the exception for essential employees. Those UMD
employees currently designated as essential under the COVID-19 reduced
operations procedures may stay on campus but I am encouraging you, if
you can work from home and with supervisor approval, to do so and leave
campus at noon.
This
is an important time in our history and we have much work left to do.
To quote Ron Harris, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of
Minneapolis (and UMD alumnus): "We don’t need episodic displays of
compassion. We need lifelong commitments to anti-racism."
Saturday mornings for me are usually devoted to reading the New York Times
and having an extra cup of tea. But this morning, I could not stop
watching the national news and the constant report of the destruction
and pain caused by the murder of Mr. George Floyd. I take some solace,
but little comfort, that at least one of the persons responsible for
this tragedy has been charged with murder. I can only imagine the pain
that Mr. Floyd’s family and friends must be experiencing. I also hope
those protesting maintain an ethic of civil disobedience and promote
that perspective amongst those others who feel compelled to come to the
streets to voice their frustration. I further hope that our state and
local leaders support our public safety professionals and Minnesota
National Guard and guide them through humane and effective actions to
safeguard our citizens and communities.
President Gabel said to us yesterday, “I
feel heartache for the loss of George Floyd and anguish for those who
mourn him. We must continue to demand justice and support those who will
accept nothing less.” I agree completely with the President, and will
offer whatever assistance UMD can provide to support our university
community and the greater Twin Ports area, as we continue to deal with
the aftermath of what happened to Mr. Floyd and the impact on our Twin
Cities families and friends. Our UMD Police Department has already
offered assistance to the Twin Cities campus and is actively working
with our Twin Ports public safety officials to assist in whatever ways
they can. So many of our students come from the Twin Cities, and several
of them live close to the areas of violence. My heart goes out to them
and to all those in pain because of the senseless actions of those
responsible for Mr. Floyd’s death.
What
I watched this morning was tragic and brought back nightmarish images
of television reports in the late 1960s, as riots occurred throughout
our nation including my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. At that time, we
young people vowed to take action and create a better nation that fully
respects all individuals and especially those who are disadvantaged and
in need. It hurts to see how much we failed our nation and ourselves,
as racism, violence, and abuse continue to swirl around us.
Please
be safe from those who might do you harm, and lean on those who
genuinely care about you and who are committed to strengthening the
connections in our communities, even while some work to tear us apart.
