MARCH 13: COVID-19 Update
Remote Work for Staff & Faculty Update from Interim President Laurie Quinn
Dear Staff and Faculty Colleagues:
Effective today, March 13, I am asking all staff and faculty, full-time and part-time/adjunct, to assess their decisions about working in person at the Burlington campus on an ongoing basis against the following criteria:
- Any travel since March 1 to a location where COVID-19 is prevalent or rapidly escalating, whether international or domestic;
- Personal health status and household health/vulnerability status, whether because of ongoing conditions or recent illness;
- Other circumstances that may create significant individual challenges during these times of uncertainty.
If any of the above applies to you, I strongly encourage you to email directly your manager/Dean and area VP/Provost regarding remote work options. We are committed to helping any employee whose job can be done remotely to work remotely, and are ready to help with logistics or other needs. Technology and systems access issues will be addressed in an email from Jeff Brown, VP of Technology, on Monday.
Remote work will cause no interruptions of regular pay for those with salaried, hourly, or per-course compensation. While faculty are already engaged in remote instruction preparation, I ask that our full-time and adjunct faculty members also assess their use of campus workspaces with an awareness of our interdependent community.
As always, if you have any symptoms of illness, self-quarantine for as long as needed to recover. Available sick time should be used during any period of illness. Hardship situations during illness, i.e. not having sick time access or availability, should be documented to your manager/Dean and VP/Provost.
While our campus remains open with some modifications and campus has no known or suspected cases at this time, I am asking this today because all of us are committed to doing all we can to slow the spread of COVID-19/coronavirus. I am counting on your understanding and cooperation, despite the potential inconveniences that changes to our ways of working may create.
Please continue to use the Update Site to stay informed on key topics; I recommend daily review of the site. Difficult and uncertain times can show us the best of who we are as a community, and I have confidence in all of us at Champlain.
With appreciation,
Laurie
