Letter and video update to the campus community from President Armacost

Dear Members of the UND Community,

Please watch my video.

UND has been actively preparing for our community of faculty, students and staff to return for the Fall Semester. As we have gone through this pandemic, we have seen the struggles as well as the power of working together. By moving to remote learning and work, respecting guidelines for physical distancing, wearing face coverings, and following other recommendations by the CDC and others, we successfully navigated the first wave of COVID. We will need that same level of vigilance and empathy for others when we come together again this fall.

Our pandemic response team has been meeting daily since mid-March to ensure UND is ready with precautions for the safety, health and general well-being of our entire campus community. I am grateful for the dedication of this group. They have been working from several guiding principles as they do their work and help us make the appropriate decisions for the benefit of all. They are:

• First and foremost, consider the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff;
• Ensure that our educational and scholarly experiences remain focused on excellence;
• Sustain a sense of community founded on principles of respect and empathy;
• Promote collaboration on campus, while recognizing key differences among our units;
• Respond sensibly to changing conditions of the pandemic.

With these principles in mind, our team is prioritizing four main areas in our preparations: Teaching and Learning, Working, Meeting & Socializing, and Housing & Dining. Teams from each area have been developing detailed plans to mitigate the risk of spread.

Beyond the mitigation efforts, we are developing robust and aggressive testing capacities and providing spaces for self-quarantining to effectively respond to potential outbreaks on campus. We also have implemented a three-level “Healthy Hawks” reference guide for you to know, at a glance, the behaviors we expect to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and keep our community safe.

When we open in the fall, we anticipate being at Level 3, which means we will be offering a hybrid of in-person and remote/online learning. Public gatherings will have restrictions and require approval for groups of more than 50 people. For the safety and well-being of all, but particularly for those at high risk,we must observe physical distancing guidelines and wear face coverings. For more details on where and when face coverings will be required, please refer to our updated COVID response blog.

We will see visible signs of change, with plexiglass barriers in work areas with high person-to-person interaction, increased cleaning of spaces, hand sanitizer dispensers across the campus, “in and out doors” in buildings to promote safer pedestrian traffic flow, and a reduced capacity of our classrooms. Many offices on campus will be less densely populated, as supervisors will determine work schedules that blend office work with remote work.

Residence halls will be open, and our housing staff has developed a comprehensive plan that assigns each resident a private room to give them personal space to physical distance. Dining services will be open, following ND Smart Restart guidelines for seating and room capacity.

More details will be shared in the coming weeks as we finalize our plans in preparation for staff to return to campus Aug. 1, and students during Welcome Weekend. I encourage you to read this week’s edition of UND Today, which has in-depth stories on our fall preparations for the classroom and other important student support elements, including housing, dining, and student health services, and within our other campus facilities.

Though our campus may look a little different this fall as we protect our community from COVID-19, UND remains committed to fostering a safe and welcoming environment of high-quality learning, discovery and engagement.

With respect,

Andy Armacost
President