March 13, 2020
Dear Faculty and Staff,
I want to share my deep appreciation for the dedication I have witnessed from faculty, staff and administrators who are exhibiting extraordinary flexibility, resilience and innovation in CSUN’s response to COVID-19. I also want to thank you for your patience as external circumstances are changing hour by hour. Currently, there are no confirmed cases at CSUN, and campus is open and operational.
We all want that status to continue for as long as possible. This is why we made the changes announced on Wednesday to shift to virtual and alternate modalities of learning from March 23 to April 19 in the interest of increasing social distancing. Our goal is to keep campus open and safe, and to continue providing the face-to-face services our students need, while decreasing the frequency of interactions in close spaces to the extent possible.
CSUN is the size of a small city, with a great deal of variability in work responsibilities and services across the institution in support of student success. There is no one blanket solution, so each division and campus area has been actively planning to provide for their unique needs to continue business continuity and service for our students. The CSUN leadership team has been working in concert with our emergency operations personnel to navigate and mitigate the impacts on campus operations. This has been an around-the-clock effort.
The reality is COVID-19 has disrupted nearly every aspect of our daily lives. With the Los Angeles Unified School District and other school districts in our region announcing closures, childcare will be a tremendous challenge for many employees. Other employees may be caregivers to those in a higher-risk category for COVID-19, or may themselves be considered higher risk. Whatever the rationale, CSUN managers and supervisors have received guidance to provide as much flexibility as possible to employees during this time, while also providing needed services to our students, such as computer labs, counseling and the library.
We do all of this with the health, safety and well-being of the entire campus community in mind. As a reminder, continue to follow the well-established measures to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. If you have a fever at or over 100.4 degrees, cough or shortness of breath, do not come to work. Call your doctor or the Klotz Student Health Center at 818-677-3666, and then press Option 1. Supervisors should not require notes from medical providers for those who may have absences due to illness.
Any additional changes to campus operations will be updated on CSUN’s COVID-19 website. We will continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) and the Office of the Chancellor. Should you have any specific workplace questions, please refer to our Faculty and Staff FAQs and contact your supervisor.
I understand many of you may be feeling anxious during this time and want to remind you of our Employee Assistance Program, LifeMatters. You may find more information at following link: LifeMatters@CSUN (password: Matadors). LifeMatters also has resources that include, but are not limited to, tips for preparedness at home, as well as how to talk with your children about COVID-19.
There is no doubt that this is an exceptionally challenging time. It is also true that CSUN has endured other exceptional challenges in our history and is strong because of it. Thank you again for all you are doing in service of students and our mission.
Sincerely,
Dianne F. Harrison, Ph.D.
President