VIDEO: Faculty & Staff Town Hall

Questions about construction projects, employee benefits and campus safety and support are among many answered at Town Hall

Editor’s note: On Thursday, Jan. 15, UND held a Town Hall meeting via Zoom for faculty and staff. A video of the Town Hall (with closed captions available) is above, while below is a summary of President Armacost’s opening remarks at the Town Hall, a time-stamped list of updates that were offered by various campus administrators, and a list of the questions that were asked and answered during the event.

The questions were posed by Meloney Linder, UND’s vice president for Marketing & Communications and lead facilitator for Thursday’s Town Hall.

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0:01: In his introduction and welcome to the Town Hall, UND President Andy Armacost talks about the process that has begun to draft a new Master Plan for University facilities. The UND community is invited to take part in this process, which will build on “the evolution of our campus over the last 10 years or so,” Armacost says.

That historic progress “was a result of deliberate planning efforts that happened about 10 years ago about what our physical campus should look like,” he continues.

“Now we’re beginning the process of looking at what the next 10 or so years will look like. And this process will be an amazing one.”

Armacost also takes note of political tensions worldwide, as well as in neighboring Minnesota. Throughout such challenges, UND is guided by a shared responsibility to look out for one another, honor individual rights and uphold the health and well-being of all who learn and work here, he notes.

“We want to make sure that your emotional and physical needs are being taken care of, that your well being is at the front and center of our decisions as a campus,” Armacost says. “We hear you, and we want to make sure that you’re OK.” Armacost goes on to describe some of the offices and organizations on campus that are fundamental to reaching this goal.

Updates from campus administrators begin — 7:34: “To kick us off, I’m going to turn the first question over to Provost Eric Link, to give us an update on where we are with our dean searches.”

10:25: “I’m going to turn it over now to Vice President Karla Mongeon-Stewart. Vice President Mongeon-Stewart, will you give us an update on the job architecture and compensation project?”

18:29: “As President Armacost mentioned, there’s a lot of activity happening on campus and throughout the nation, and we continue to monitor things that are happening at the federal level. So I’m now going to turn it over to Vice President Scott Snyder, who oversees our Research and Economic Development team, to give us an update.”

21:13: “I’m now going to turn it over to Vice President and Dean Marjorie Jenkins to give us an update from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.”

25:16: “We have one more update before we turn it over to the questions that are being submitted. I’m going to ask Vice President Mongeon-Stewart for an update on several construction projects that are underway or in the works, and to tell us a little bit about  clearing our snow and sanding our walkways.”

30:54: Corey Shock, director of Operations for UND Facilities Management, gives an update on UND’s cleaning services. “With that said, we’d also like to begin cleaning offices again starting on Feb. 1,” Shock says. “Our initial plan will be once a month, with the possibility of moving that to every two weeks in the future.”

33:41: Brian Larson, director of Construction Management, gives a further update on upcoming construction projects and their impact on the campus.

37:57: “The first question is one that was pre-submitted by our Staff Senate. I’m going to start with Vice President Mongeon-Stewart: There are rumors of structural issues within the newly rebuilt West Hall. Is there any truth or clarification that could be provided on that?”

39:19: “For the next question, I’m going to start  with you, Vice President Mongeon-Stewart, and then I believe you may have UND Police Chief Rodney Clark add to it as well.

“During the recent blizzard on Dec. 28, UND remained open during an active blizzard warning despite a ‘no travel’ advisory from the North Dakota Department of Transportation, and while local businesses in town, including day cares and restaurants, had a delayed opening to give plows time to plow the residential streets.

“We remained open. We’re wondering if you can just give us an update on the decision-making process we used to stay open while others were closed.”

41:19: “Will there ever be a walkway or tunnel built  between the Student Union and the library?”

42:18: “The next question, I’m going to try to answer it first, and then I’ll turn it over to President Armacost after that. And the question is: Why hasn’t the institution put out a message regarding the ICE activity in Minnesota?

“We received communication after the assassination of Charlie Kirk (the question continues), but did not receive anything from the institution regarding the assassinations of Minnesota legislators until after Charlie Kirk’s death, and now have not received communication regarding the violence in Minneapolis that occurred just last week, and then the protests that have been occurring over the weekend and this week.”

45:51: “There was another question, too, about ICE,” President Armacost notes in his answer to the question at 42:18 above. “Namely, what  are the rights of our students?”

46:36: “And then there was one final question,” President Armacost continues: “How do we protect our students and employees?”

47:30: “The next question, I’m going to turn over to Vice President Mongeon-Stewart again. And the question is: Can you explain how compensation reviews are being handled while the job architecture and compensation project is getting rolled out?”

48:45: “I’m actually going to throw the next question back to Vice  President Mongeon-Stewart again. If positions need to be re-evaluated, should managers wait until this job architecture process is completed, or should they submit the positions for review now?”

49:27: “One last question, and I’ll send this to you, Vice President Mongeon-Stewart, but it  might also go to Vice President Snyder: Will there be changes in the Affordable Care Act subsidies, and will our benefits at UND be impacted?”