July 2 update from the Ready & Resilient Committee

Colleagues,

We are preparing to finalize a number of processes in the coming weeks. In the meantime, this week’s Ready & Resilient (R&R) update includes specific information regarding:

• NC Governor Cooper on Schools
• Employee Guide for 2020
• Technology Update
• Tents on Campus
• Guide for Teaching
• Schar Center Health Check-In
• Testing Update
• Classroom Assignments
• Physically Distanced Classroom Setups
• Required Training
• IRB Update
• Board Markers and Erasers
• Information Line—Starting Monday, July 6
• Residence Life Policy Updates
• Elon Dining Updates
• Quarantine/Isolation Plans
• COVID-19 Dashboard Update
• Ongoing R&R Work and Future Updates

NC Governor Cooper on Schools

This week Governor Cooper acknowledged no decision has been made on how schools should open this fall and stated, “Our goal remains getting children back in classrooms for in-person instruction that is safe for students and their teachers.” We are watching these updates carefully, knowing they will have significant impact on faculty and staff and their families. Phase II in North Carolina continues to provide exemptions for educational institutions to operate.

Employee Guide for 2020

Human Resources has compiled COVID-related employee information into an Employee Guide for Fall 2020. The guide will be updated as additional policies are developed. Associate Vice President for Human Resources & Chief Human Resources Officer Kelli Shuman will share this resource document Monday, July 6.

Technology Update

Control of Webcams: R&R received a question about who can access webcams, recordings, streams from classrooms. IT has clarified that webcams and other technologies are being installed in classrooms throughout campus to offer additional flexibility for blended instruction and other course models planned for the upcoming academic year. Faculty will have complete control of video and audio in each space, which includes the broadcast or recording of live class sessions and the security and distribution of those videos through their WebEx, Zoom or Teams accounts.

Upcoming faculty development opportunities:

• Registration for the Digital Learning Days training series (sponsored by TLT) is now open.
  • Topics will include:
    • Technology available in on-campus classroom spaces
    • Techniques to design and organize course materials
    • Synchronous and asynchronous teaching techniques, and more.
  • Register for either July 14-16 or August 5-7 from 9 a.m.-noon.
  • See the faculty staff email sent on Tuesday from TLT for additional information.
• Registration remains open for the 2nd offering of the Course Design Institute (July 29-31 and August 3-4), co-sponsored by CATL, TLT, and Writing Across the University.

Tents on Campus

Large event tents have been ordered for the following locations on campus from August 11 through November 23, 2020. Tents labeled “reservable” below will be available for faculty to schedule meetings with classes. Tents will be listed in 25Live system as of August 1. Faculty may reserve a particular time period for up to a two-week block, so as to make them available to as many colleagues as possible.

Folding tables, chairs, and Wi-Fi will be provided. Tents will not have connected power, air conditioning, heating, or technology hardware. Tents will be open air and susceptible to sun, wind, rain, and . . . snow.

Guide for Teaching

The R&R Academic Team shared the Relevant Information for Teaching Guide, including information relevant to teaching fall 2020-2021and adjusted policies related to COVID-19, this past Monday. The guide will be updated as additional policies are developed.

See Provost Aswani Volety’s June 30 email (“Summer-Fall updates”) for more information and the pdf of the guide.

Schar Center Health Check-In

Next Friday, July 10, we will notify faculty and staff about Health Check-In process.

• For faculty and staff this will be a quick drive-through process that will occur before and during Planning Week in August.
• At the Health Check-In, faculty and staff will have their temperature checked, receive their health kit (Elon face covering, hand sanitizer, tissues, information, thermometer, etc.) and show proof of COVID-19 testing, completion of required health training and signing of the Healthy Elon Commitment.

All members of the Elon community will complete this health screening prior to the start of classes. All students, living on or off-campus will participate in this check-in. We are communicating with early arrival, graduate programs, and all students/parents separately about their check-in times and creating workable options so that groups like the Law School can participate in Greensboro (instead of at Schar Center).

Testing Update

To participate in fall semester at Elon, all students, faculty and staff must complete COVID-19 testing before arriving on campus. There is no need for you to do anything at this point.

Next week, the R&R Health Team will finalize plans for mail-in PCR testing prior to fall semester. This process will involve logging into a portal, entering your address and phone, receiving a non-invasive nasal swab testing kit via FedEx, collecting the painless sample, FedExing it back, then logging into the portal after the testing is completed. Anyone receiving a positive test will be contacted by a physician and their local health department and will be required to quarantine for 14 days. Again, specific instructions will be shared by Friday, July 17. We are working on plans for how this testing will work for international students, early arrivals, graduate students, etc.

Information Line—Starting Monday, July 6

Starting Monday, July 6, a special information line will be available for staff, faculty, parents, and students to call with questions regarding Ready & Resilient resources. You can call the Ready & Resilient Information Line during business hours Monday through Friday at 336-278-2020. As always, you can also send questions via email to Ready2020@Elon.edu. Questions about technology will continue to be handled by the Technology Service Desk at 336.278.5200. Questions about cleaning supplies (disinfectant or refills of wipes) will continue to be handled by Physical Plant at 336.278.5500.

Residence Life Policy Updates

Residence Life has created a common set of social norms for living on campus this fall. Read the new policies regarding residential visitation policy, room changes, healthy habits and cleaning standards.

Elon Dining Updates

Dining operations have been completely redesigned to provide physical distancing, new serving stations and removal of self-service options. New menu items and station concepts have also been developed. All items will continue to be served in disposable containers. Some retail dining will also add mobile ordering and to-go options. Read more about Elon dining procedures here.

COVID-19 Dashboard

You can always check the number of cases on campus and existing protocols for contact tracing and notifications on the COVID-19 dashboard page on the Ready & Resilient site.

Quarantine/Isolation Plans

This week, the R&R Health Team worked to draft quarantine/isolation plans. The Infectious Disease Committee will review and finalize those documents at their meeting next week. Once the plans are finalized, we will share an overview of the process and procedures.

Classroom Assignments

Classroom assignments are being made now. An email from the Registrar’s Office will be sent once all classroom assignments are finalized.

Physically Distanced Classroom Setups

Physical Plant began the process of altering the set-up of all classrooms to accommodate physical distancing. This time-intensive and large-scale effort will continue through the next several weeks. In mid-July, drawings of physically distanced classroom set ups will be available on the Planning, Design, and Construction Management website.

Sanitation stations will be installed in the coming weeks in all classroom and will include disinfectant wipes, sanitizer spray, and hand sanitizer.

Required Training

Later in July, all students, faculty, and staff will be provided with links to additional required trainings about COVID-19, campus guidelines, and practices that support a healthy campus this fall.

IRB Update

All active protocols will be required to submit an amendment prior to resuming human subjects research. This includes on-line research that does not require in-person data collection. This process will take less than 5 minutes for protocols where in-person data collection does not occur. Active protocols, that do not have an amendment posted by August 1st will be suspended until the amendment is posted. See the IRB website for more information.

See Professor of Physical Therapy Education Steve Bailey’s June 8 email (“Important IRB Updates) for more details.

Updated Signage Available

Starting July 9, updated signage will be available from Print Services that aligns with the new mask policy. Use this link to see the available signs and order starting July 9.

Board Markers and Erasers

Because evidence supports that COVID-19 is spread through airborne transmission of droplets, it makes sense that board markers will need to be disinfected between usages. To assist faculty, we are exploring purchasing board markers and an eraser for each faculty member. These will be provided at the Schar Center Health Check-In. More details forthcoming.

Ongoing R&R Work and Future Updates

As our work continues, we expect to update you on the following in the coming weeks:

1. Required training for students, faculty, and staff and the Healthy Elon Commitment
2. Final health screening, COVID-19 testing, and tracing policies
3. Final Schar Center Health Check-In details for students, faculty, and staff
4. Planning Week schedules
5. Quarantine and isolation policies
6. Benchmarking and alert levels being developed by the Infectious Disease Committee
7. Local school system schedules
8. Plans for international students
9. More on Move-In and Orientation
10. Classroom assignments
11. Lunch spaces

Our Requests of You

• Thank you for your good questions. We need your ideas. Keep reaching out to us individually and through ready2020@elon.edu. We ask that you give us a bit of grace and patience as we work through the many recommendations and help prepare for this fall.
• As your programs and departments are developing processes and making plans for fall, please share those plans through deans and vice presidents, as well as through Jeff Stein at jstein@elon.edu or through ready2020@elon.edu so we can ensure alignment across campus in this rapidly changing environment.

We will continue to provide updates throughout the summer via emails and the Ready & Resilient website.

Sincerely,

The Ready & Resilient Committee

• Jeff Stein, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Assistant Professor of English (Chair)
• Dan Anderson, Vice President of University Communications
• Ginette Archinal, Medical Director of Student Health and University Physician
• MarQuita Barker, Director of Residence Life
• John Barnhill, Associate Vice President for University Advancement
• Tom Flood, Assistant Vice President of Physical Plant
• Jason Husser, Associate Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies, and
• Director of the Elon Poll (Academic Council Representative)
• Deandra Little, Assistant Provost, Director of the Center for the Advancement of
• Teaching and Learning and Professor of English
• Paul Miller, Assistant Provost for Academic Operations and Communications and Professor of Exercise Science
• Kelly Reimer, Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies (Staff Council Representative)
• Carrie Ryan, Director of Auxiliary Services
• Kelli Shuman, Associate Vice President for Human Resources & Chief Human Resources Officer
• Gabie Smith, Dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology
• Mary Southern, Project Manager for Provost and Academic Affairs Operations (Project Manager)
• Mike Ward, Deputy Director of Athletics
• Randy Williams, Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Assistant Professor of Education