COVID-19: Important Updates from Deans Moore, Stone, and Hickman-Maynard

This message was originally posted at 4:04pm on Friday, March 13, 2020. It will be updated as more information becomes available. Please see additional resources for our community at the bottom of this message.

Dear Beloved Community,

You have been remarkable in your calm and careful preparation as we shift to a largely virtual community of teaching, learning, and gathering. Thank you for your heroic efforts! You have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with minimal panic and maximal goodwill. Administrators, faculty, and staff have stepped into this learning curve superbly well, and we already see students doing the same. The next days and weeks will require a lot of effort and flexibility, and I hope you will take time each day to breathe deeply and center yourselves in ways that are important to you. With this email, your three deans want you to know how much we care for you and our shared community.

Below we explain some of the basics you will want to know, with messages from each of us about the overall STH situation (me), remote teaching (Dean Stone), and events and community and spiritual life (Dean Hickman-Maynard).

From Mary Elizabeth Moore: The University is open and is offering full services for teaching and learning, community life, and structural supports. We will simply be far more virtual in our “new normal,” and we will learn as we go. Many of our customary ways of functioning will change (as in remote teaching and event cancellations); however, we are developing alternatives to address the primary purposes of an academic and living community during this period of serious health risks.

Staff will be available during their normal working hours, even though most will work parts of each week from home. You can reach people by email during regular hours, and they will also work in rotation to keep the offices open for support and immediate services.
The Library will remain open, though the hours will be shortened and staff will rotate in their on-campus presence. The staff will also provide extra online services, and you will receive a more detailed note about this very soon.
Public spaces in our school will remain open, e.g., the library and the Community Center, and the spaces will have sanitizers and reminders about social distancing and handwashing. This is needed because many students are remaining on campus for important reasons.

From Bryan Stone: STH Faculty are working hard to re-think their courses in light of our move to remote teaching for the next several weeks. Faculty will be in touch with students about the specifics of each class, but classes will always be held at the exact same time as scheduled, using Zoom. The University link for downloading Zoom for free is at https://www.bu.edu/tech/services/cccs/conf/online/zoom/. We suggest you familiarize yourself with Zoom and do some practice runs with a friend before classes resume next week. Any student who anticipates having technology or internet access problems in getting online remotely should be in contact quickly with Academic Dean Bryan Stone. If you will need to participate from a time zone outside of the US, please let him know that as well. Please always check your blackboard course websites for information and for Zoom links in the coming days. All courses will have a blackboard website, even if they did not have one previously. Writing Works will continue through virtual means (Google Hangouts), and more information will be coming about that soon.

From Teddy Hickman-Maynard: We are asking that students, staff, and faculty who have events planned between March 16 and April 13 to either cancel the event or transform it into an online event. Due to the uncertainty of the University’s plans for the remainder of the semester, we do not recommend that you plan to hold these events later in the semester. If student leaders require assistance in rescinding any contracts with outside guests or vendors, they should contact Dean Teddy Hickman-Maynard for assistance.

Despite this pause on in-person gathering, we fully intend to maintain a robust spiritual and community life program. Office of Students and Community Life staff will be working over the next few days to reimagine ways of coming together in virtual spaces to continue the work of nurturing meaningful relationships with one another. We are thankful that many students have already inquired about ways that they can help to support one another. We invite you to continue offering helpful suggestions as we put a plan in place.

From All of Us:

We encourage you to watch for updates. In the next 3 days, we will provide an overall information sheet, Monday’s Collegium, and a web information center for students and faculty. Please let us know (now or later) if you have any questions or concerns. We are here for you! At the same time, we wish you moments of breathing and blessing.

With hope for your wellbeing,

Mary Elizabeth Moore