March 18, 2020 Coronavirus update from the Vice President and Dean

Wed Mar 18 15:33:21 MST 2020

March 18, 2020 Coronavirus update from the Vice President and Dean: Main Campus building access, Deliveries, Personal responsibility for safety and wellbeing, Discrimination and xenophobia.

I hope you and your loved ones are well. We are all adjusting to our new workplace realities this week and with very little time to prepare. I appreciate and respect all that you are doing. Your hard work is even more impressive because very many of you have told me that you are suffering from stress over valid concerns about an unprecedented global crisis.

I want to share some important updates that I hope will help:

Effective immediately, Main Campus buildings may be closed 24/7 to anyone without room/building privileges. Building Managers: please work, as you are able today, with Chris Kopach<https://directory.arizona.edu/phonebook?cn=chris+kopach&type=&lastname=&firstname=&email=&phone=&attribute_7=>, assistant vice president for facilities management, to do this. Once these arrangements have been made, please advise building occupants about these closures. Note: Entry-level doors must have signs to help people get access in case of an emergency.

Deliveries: Your building manager should contact Ted Nasser<https://directory.arizona.edu/phonebook?cn=edward+nasser&type=&lastname=&firstname=&email=&phone=&attribute_7=>, UA’s chief procurement officer, to arrange for deliveries that are already headed to closed buildings.

Personal responsibility for our safety and wellbeing, and that of our families. All students, staff and faculty must decide for themselves if they choose to spend time at all on campus. Until further notice no supervisor can require your on-campus presence, or presence in a vehicle with others, or presence on any "field site". If you feel you are being coerced or pressured into being on campus, or feel you will be recriminated against in any way by not being on campus, etc, immediately contact by email Jeannie McLain<mailto:mclainj at email.arizona.edu> (faculty); Kirsten Limesand<mailto:limesank at u.arizona.edu> (graduate students); Mike Staten<mailto:statenm at email.arizona.edu> (undergraduate student workers); or your department HR representative (staff).

If you are challenged to support any truly essential and non-elective activity because of lack of personnel, please tell your unit head and they will work with the appropriate ALVSCE central administrative colleagues to ensure the work is done as best they can.

I have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination. Today our global community must stand together to eradicate this virus. If we cannot eradicate it, then we must stand together even more strongly to minimize the number of infections and mitigate the disease, prevent our healthcare systems from being overwhelmed, and maintain our economies until control measures such as vaccines are developed. Unfortunately, xenophobic acts have been reported in our community. Please support our colleagues and our students from China or of Chinese descent. If you feel targeted or discriminated against because you are from China or of Chinese descent, or for any reason, or you witness discrimination, please immediately report it<https://equity.arizona.edu/report-concern> to the OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL EQUITY.

Keep well, please.

Shane

Shane C. Burgess
Vice President for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Charles-Sander Dean of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Director, Arizona Experiment Station
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Forbes Building, Room 306 | 1140 E. South Campus Drive
P.O. Box 210036 | Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
Office: 520-621-7621
sburgess at cals.arizona.edu<mailto:sburgess at cals.arizona.edu>
alvsce.arizona.edu<https://alvsce.arizona.edu/>
cals.arizona.edu<https://cals.arizona.edu/>
twitter<https://twitter.com/UAAgLifeVetExt>

The University of Arizona is located statewide on the ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.
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