RE: Rice cancelling classes and events
Online classes only for the rest of the semester. Colleges closed except for special cases (visa problems, home is heavily virus positive, etc.
Leebron letter:
Dear Rice alumni and friends,
As our world, our nation and our city face a major health threat, it falls upon us as a community to adopt the measures that will both protect all who work and learn at Rice and allow us to continue our mission of teaching and research. As you may know, this past Sunday Rice made the decision to cancel classes for the week and to limit any gatherings until the end of April to not more than 100 people. The decision to cancel classes was driven in significant part by the need to give our faculty the time necessary to prepare to move to an online teaching environment, should that become necessary.
Yesterday afternoon, we wrote to our students, faculty and staff to share that it has in fact become necessary to take these more drastic measures, and that Rice will move to full remote instruction, beginning on March 23 for both graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, we made the very difficult decision to ask all undergraduate students living on campus in the residential colleges to move off campus within two weeks, and encouraged those who had left for the extended spring break not to return to the campus. This is not a decision that we have made lightly, as we know this has a far-reaching impact on so many of our students. We are making provisions to support students who must remain on campus due to visa issues or who would face a living environment incompatible with completing the spring semester remotely. We thus expect the vast majority of our students to remain off campus for the duration of the spring semester. Graduate and faculty research will continue on campus, but we have also asked researchers and faculty to move some research to a remote environment whenever possible. In addition, we have prohibited gatherings of more than 25 people.
We did not act because of a current threat on our campus. The faculty, staff and students who were quarantined because they had interacted with the Rice employee who was diagnosed with COVID-19 did complete the 14-day quarantine period recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention without symptoms. While we are grateful for this outcome, the developments around COVID-19 have greatly accelerated and intensified in the United States in the past couple days. As many of you may know, the City of Houston and Harris County declared a health emergency and canceled the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and President Trump restricted travel from nearly all of Europe to the United States. It is clear that yesterday marked a widespread tipping point in the thinking about how fast the situation is escalating and will continue to do so, and therefore what measures need to be taken immediately. The infection will continue to spread, and it is critical that the rate be slowed so that our nation’s medical care facilities are not taxed beyond capacity.
I know that our alumni, parents and friends also are confronting the COVID-19 threat and that many of you are directly impacted by the epidemic, as travel is limited, schools and communities consider closing and canceling or postponing events, and concern about large group gatherings intensifies. We know that many families and businesses will suffer as the result of the combination of the threat to health and to economic activity. The Rice community of alumni and friends is particularly close-knit, and we will continue to share updates regarding the status of activities on campus on an ongoing basis.
We have also made difficult decisions regarding canceling or postponing alumni events both on- and off-campus. We are canceling or postponing all events with anticipated attendance of 100 people or more through April 30. This has impacted some of our most beloved traditions, including Beer Bike, the Friends of Fondren Gala and the inaugural Young Alumni Weekend. We also know that many volunteers and staff have dedicated substantial time to organize these events and to build the Rice community through these connections, and we look forward to celebrating these with you next year.
We have not made decisions yet regarding commencement or the Laureates Awards Dinner which are in mid-May, and we do not expect to do so before early or mid-April. We will continue to base our decisions on the best information available in this rapidly evolving situation, recognizing the need for timely notifications. All of this uncertainty poses challenges, and we will endeavor to communicate about plans and decisions promptly and transparently.
As I shared with the campus community earlier this week, I am incredibly grateful to our staff, faculty, students and student leaders for their commitment to Rice and their unwavering support of the campus community during these uncertain times. Our extraordinary community here at Rice has been demonstrated time and again, as we have faced other challenges in the past. As one of our seniors was quoted very recently in the Wall Street Journal, “I know this is jarring but I’ve never been let down by Rice in crisis situations. We went through Harvey. We can definitely do this.” I said in my recent note to the campus that this is a reference to all of Rice—our students, our staff and our faculty who demonstrate unwavering commitment, compassion and courage as we stare down such challenges. And I would certainly add our alumni, parents and friends, and thank you for your engagement and steadfast support.
These are for virtually all of us unprecedented circumstances. We are buoyed as we address these circumstances by the values and commitment of our community, our belief in our mission, and our undiminished optimism regarding our university continuing to provide extraordinary opportunities for learning and discovering as we address the challenges of our world.
With warm regards and gratitude,
David
|
