Maintaining Normal Business and Administrative Services
March 11, 2020
Dear University Faculty & Staff,
The University’s decision to move to online classes and to postpone or cancel University meetings and events will not affect the several thousand international and graduate students who cannot travel home or must stay on campus to continue their research.
While we hope and expect a large number of undergraduate students will choose to study and attend online classes from their homes, our dorms and dining halls will remain open, and we will need to continue to provide academic and administrative services to our faculty and students who remain on campus and to those who are studying remotely. We therefore need to plan to maintain normal levels of service, while at the same time taking appropriate precautions to protect the health and well-being of all of the members of our community.
We encourage each manager to review their department’s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) with their staff and to assess what work and services must be done on campus and what can be done remotely. For assistance with Continuity of Operations Plans, please contact Rene Fielding, Director of Emergency Management, at 617-353-7556, or by email to rmfield@bu.edu. For remote work information, please contact ithelp@bu.edu with any questions, visit bu.edu/tech/support/working-teaching-remotely/, or go to bu.edu/tech for information on upcoming IS&T drop-in sessions on remote work readiness.
The University’s staff is remarkable in its ability to adapt and respond to difficult situations. I very much appreciate your dedication to the University and your efforts to help us maintain the quality of our programs through this period of unprecedented uncertainty.
Please be safe and look out for the well-being of your colleagues while we work through the unpredictability of COVID-19 together.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown
President