Fall 2020 Resources & FAQs

As you may know, GWISE is working with other student organizations to request clarification on many of the vague and unclear aspects of the Fall 2020 Back2BU guidelines, as well as to push back against what we feel are unreasonable expectations by the university, that will especially adversely affect the most vulnerable within our graduate student population.

We invite you to continue to leave anonymous comments, questions, or concerns about BU’s policies here, as well as fill out our Grad Housing Survey and our Teaching & Learning Survey.

Due to the decentralized nature of information pertaining to BU’s policies, we have compiled the following list of FAQ’s broken up into relevant sections. We have also provided meeting notes from our various meetings with members of the BU administration, if you are interested.

Official BU Resources: The following are official resources pertaining to Fall 2020 reopening plans.

• Back2BU website
• Back to On-Campus Work: Phase II Re-Entry 
• BU SHS COVID-19 FAQs
• BU Healthway Portal
• Graduate & Professional Programs FAQs
• PhD Fall 2020 Guidelines FAQs
• Memos from Provost Jean Morrison
• Memos from President Robert Brown
• Memos from Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore

FAQ’s: Please visit the following pages for answers compiled by GWISE to FAQs on the following subjects.

• LfA & Graduate Teaching Responsibilities: FAQs regarding BU’s Learn from Anywhere model and responsibilities of Graduate Teaching Fellows
• Health & Safety: FAQs regarding testing, social distancing, and contact tracing protocols, as well as general health related questions
• Vulnerable Grad Students: FAQs about international students, incoming students, other vulnerable student populations, and student liability
• Unanswered Questions: Questions that we have sent to BU administration officials which are still awaiting answers

Meeting Minutes: The following are notes taken by GWISE board members (unless otherwise noted) at various meetings with BU administration officials. * indicates that meeting minutes have been approved by admins present at the meeting.

• *Meeting Minutes 7/15/20 with BU Administration regarding new graduate student guidelines for Fall 2o20
• GSO Meeting Notes 7/30/20 (taken by GSO board members)
• *Meeting Notes 7/31/20 with BME Department about TF duties (policies and practices discussed here may be specific to BME students)
• *Meeting Notes 8/6/20 with BME Department about Testing & Health (most policies and practices discussed here apply to ALL members of BU community)
• Meeting Notes 8/18/20 from Back2BU Moderated Discussion #1: Logistics of the LfA Classroom
  • Q&A Zoom Chat from this Moderated Discussion. Please note that all student names have been removed to maintain privacy and anonymity.
• Meeting Notes 8/24/20 from Back2BU Moderated Discussion #2: COVID-19 Policies and Operations
  • Q&A Zoom Chat from this Moderated Discussion. Please note that all student names have been removed to maintain privacy and anonymity.

As always, please feel free to reach out to us at gwise@bu.edu with any questions or concerns or if you’d like to be involved in these discussions.