be on the lookout for important campus messages re: Fall

[Bill Maurer]

  Dear social sciences grad students, lecturers, research staff, faculty
  and staff,

  A few updates: I'm expecting a series of emails will hit your Inboxes
  soon regarding Fall quarter. The undergraduates will also be receiving
  some messages. The bottom line for us in Social Sciences is as follows:

  -all instruction in Social Sciences, at the graduate and undergraduate
  level, will be conducted remotely in the Fall.

  -housing will be accommodating students (turning quads into doubles and
  turning other rooms into singles, I think) with priority being given
  to first years and transfers. So students will indeed be returning to
  campus--a smaller number of undergrads than normal, but still a sizeable
  population, as well as grad students, all taking courses remotely.

  -outdoor areas will be reserved for co-curricular activities and student
  clubs but not classes. This means we will probably be able to hold,
  say, mentoring activities, SSARC or Dean's Ambassadors' Council events,
  or even non-mandatory in-person meet-and-greets connected to our classes,
  BUT subject to social distancing and other precautionary measures. (There
  was a tent committee.... which ruled out tents! I do not know why, but
  I am disappointed I was never asked to serve on it). In Social Sciences
  we will be reconfiguring interior spaces where students congregate in
  order to reduce their presence (in, say, SBSG lobby), and Andy's team
  is assessing whether we will need to boost WiFi for our outdoor plazas
  and other outdoor areas around our buildings.

  -There will be an "Anteater Agreement," a sort of honor code for students
  regarding monitoring themselves for symptoms of illness and staying home
  and calling Student Health if they feel ill. We should also expect to hear
  more about the policy regarding the use of the self-check app. But again,
  the emphasis will be on "changing the culture" rather than surveillance.

  -There will also be testing of students, but please watch for the emails
  about this, because the protocol as it was presented to the deans today
  is still confusing to me. I'll try to break it down once I've seen the
  written words myself. But, it will NOT be testing of everyone (even UC
  San Diego, which set out on that path, is now abandoning it due to high
  rates of false test results, logistics, and cost), and it will focus on
  testing of symptomatic students. Again: watch for the email we'll receive,
  and I'll translate it from administrativese into human language if it
  is unclear.

  -There will be a (paid) contact tracing training program for interested
  grad students. Watch your emails for details. (Interestingly, UC Irvine
  can not initiate contact tracing unless it is deputized by the OC Health
  Agency to do so. But the campus is going to train people anyway, on
  the assumption that we will be given the authority to conduct our own
  contact tracing).

  So, lots of stuff! Like I said, watch for emails from the campus!

  Til tomorrow,

  Bill

  And here's your Thursday dose of Rufus. He always makes this face when he reads campus-level zotmails.