April 17, 2020
Dear CU Boulder faculty and staff:
I hope this message finds you well. Today, I want to share an update on our planning for fall semester. Our intention this fall, as much as circumstances will allow, is to resume our in-person, residential campus experience in a modified form that enables social distancing and mitigates COVID-19 health risks.
Our decision making will take into consideration a variety of factors, the primary being the latest data, science and public health guidance we receive at the local, state and federal levels. Our leadership team, in coordination with campus and system stakeholders, is working on scenarios to enable our transition to modified campus operations this fall.
Our decisions will be informed by three guiding principles:
- We will apply leadership, empathy and care to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our students, faculty, staff and community members.
- We will be innovative to meet our mission and maintain academic integrity, quality and equity in the student and employee experience.
- We will be resilient together to deliver positive impact and adjust rapidly to changing, imperfect information to maintain our operational and fiscal integrity as circumstances evolve.
In my update next Friday, I will provide additional details on the structure, timeline and decisions we will be making for fall, including how you can engage and share your input. For now, I encourage you to find the latest information on our COVID-19 response at colorado.edu/coronavirus.
Like our peers and many other organizations around the world, we have made a number of difficult but important decisions this semester, and we will continue to do so with empathy, care and our mission in mind.
This week, Provost Moore and Chief Operating Officer O’Rourke announced that our summer courses will be remote and in-person campus activities and events will be canceled through the end of July. They also provided updated guidance on building access, hiring and summer travel restrictions.
As soon as possible next week, we will share updates on summer teaching resources for faculty and instructors in support of remote learning. We will also, as alluded to by CU system leadership during the week’s special Board of Regents meeting, update you on some challenging budgetary issues we must address, including the possibility of furloughs and other measures due to the revenue impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I know the uncertainty we are all facing is troubling and can feel overwhelming at times. We are here to support each other, and I encourage you to practice self-care and to explore our available campus resources as we navigate the remainder of the semester and prepare, circumstances allowing, for a modified return to campus this fall.
I want to reiterate my appreciation for all you are doing to strengthen our community and to support each other during this time. You have shown up again and again to deliver on our mission and to support the health, safety and education of our students, and I am grateful to you all. I am proud of the legacy we are building in the face of this pandemic, and I am optimistic about our future because of you.
We are Buffs together,
Phil