Dear TC Community,
We are just 15 days away from the start of the fall semester! It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over and that it has been 6 months since we entered fully remote operations. Together, we made it through the last few months of the unknown and we are poised to begin the exciting semester ahead. I am confident that we can continue to make the most of our circumstances together.
As I mentioned in my message last week, we have two simple priorities for the fall: (1) maintain a reduced on-campus population; and (2) protect the health and safety of the students, faculty, and staff who are on campus while maintaining excellence in all of our programs and research activity.
For the small number of individuals who will be physically on campus in the fall, I am pleased to share that the Campus Life During COVID-19 site is now live. The site offers a complete guide to campus health and safety policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including but not limited to:
- Health and Safety Measures
- Requirements to Enter Campus and Processes for Permission
- Physical Distancing and Behavior Guidelines
- Shared Space Modifications
- Permitted Activities on Campus
- Remote Work Operations
- Research Compliance and Safety
I invite you to visit the site and learn more about how life at TC (whether remote or on-campus) will look this fall. The College has gone to great lengths to ensure that these measures will help keep us safe, while also creating a culture of health, safety, and care within our community.
It is my hope that our full community will be knowledgeable about and prepared to engage in the new plan for fall operations. There will inevitably be questions as we roll out the COVID-19 Response plan in the weeks and months ahead. I encourage students to submit any questions or concerns that you may have to Student Affairs at studentaffairs@tc.columbia.edu
I would like to conclude with a special thank you to every member of the Planning for the Fall working group, as they have spent countless hours working together to ensure the safety and productivity of the College in the midst of ever changing guidance. A sincere thank you to Brian Alford, John DeAngelis, Devin Gray, Cherie Hargett, Megan Massaro, Janice Robinson, and Dewayne White. I am especially grateful to each of you for committing to an unpredictable amount of work in addition to managing your core responsibilities along the way.
Additionally, I’d like to thank College Events, the Facilities team, the Web Office, Environmental Health and Safety, Public Safety, Human Resources, Student Affairs, the Office of Digital Learning, TC Information Technology, the Gottesman Library, OASID, and the various Working Groups, who have remained nimble, dedicated, and collaborative in developing a new way of operating while remaining faithful to our scholarly commitments.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bailey
President, Teachers College