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COVID-19 (coronavirus) guidance for remote teaching
Subject: UCR Senate Chair support for June 10 Strike for Black Lives
Dear Senate Colleagues:
As a growing national and global movement builds mass consciousness around the anti-Black violence of policing, the university remains a necessary and crucial site of engagement. I am using my platform as your Divisional Senate Chair to express my solidarity with today’s national university based action, the Strike for Black Lives. This one day strike has circulated under the social media hashtags #Strike4BlackLives, #ShutDownAcademia, and #ShutDownSTEM. A number of prominent national academic organizations have endorsed today’s action, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science (see their statement below).
A complete description of the action and its organizers appears here: https://www.shutdownstem.com. Its call to action reads, in part,
In the wake of the most recent murders of Black people in the US, it is clear that white and other non-Black people have to step up and do the work to eradicate anti-Black racism. As members of the global academic and STEM communities, we have an enormous ethical obligation to stop doing “business as usual.” …Our responsibility starts with our role in society. In academia, our thoughts and words turn into new ways of knowing. Our research papers turn into media releases, books and legislation that reinforce anti-Black narratives. In STEM, we create technologies that affect every part of our society and are routinely weaponized against Black people. Black academic and Black STEM professionals are hurting because they exist in and are attacked by institutional and systemic racism. Black people have been tirelessly working for change, alongside their Indigenous and People of Color allies. For Black academics and STEM professionals, #ShutDownAcademia and #ShutDownSTEM is a time to prioritize their needs— whether that is to rest, reflect, or to act— without incurring additional cumulative disadvantage. Those of us who are not Black, particularly those of us who are white, play a key role in perpetuating systemic racism. Direct actions are needed to stop this injustice. Unless you engage directly with eliminating racism, you are perpetuating it. This moment calls for profound and meaningful change. #ShutDownAcademia and #ShutDownSTEM is the time for white and non-Black People of Color (NBPOC) to not only educate themselves, but to define a detailed plan of action to carry forward. Wednesday June 10, 2020 will mark the day that we transition into a lifelong commitment of actions to eradicate anti-Black racism in academia and STEM. We join with members of Particles for Justice in calling for a #Strike4BlackLives.
I personally encourage and support any of you who wish to similarly support the Strike for Black Lives to do so.
Peace dylan
Subject: For Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tyisha Miller
It seems profane to be writing a note that attempts to express a sense of universal outrage over the police killings of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, George Floyd in Minnesota, and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Frankly, i am unsure in these days that such outrage is even remotely universal, and i am unprepared to offer such a declaration.
Rather than make such a gesture, i wish to humbly but unapologetically state that the context of the nationwide rebellions cannot be reduced to these three incidents, or even a dozen incidents of anti-Black police violence. Such casualties at the hands of state power are a systemic, institutionalized historical fact of American life that are experienced differently-radically so-by people in the extended UCR community, whether students, staff, faculty, or administrators. It is worth recalling that our campus is mere blocks from the scene of Tyisha Miller’s killing at the hands of Riverside Police Department officers in 1998-a trauma that has continued to define many Black students' and coworkers' collective experiences of UCR and Riverside more generally.
I write today to honor those who are continually working to confront and abolish this state violence, many of whom are among UCR faculty, staff, and students. Such historical moments as the one we are living amplify the need for rigorous, critical, community-accountable scholarship, activism, and teaching that radically challenges these dominant and oppressive systems of institutional power.
Peace with justice dylan
I write to announce a revision to my virtual office hours for Spring 2020. I will hold open Zoom sessions for anyone who wishes to drop in on Tuesdays from 9-10 am, through the Spring Quarter. Our conversations will be secure, one-on-one meetings. Just use this link
I am also writing to bring our collective attention to the unwelcome surge in the "zoombombing" of virtual classrooms around the world. Zoombombing—the intrusion on videoconference classes by uninvited and unwanted users—takes the form of racist, anti-Black, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic abusiveness that creates significant distress for students and teachers.
While there are some measures we can take as faculty to prevent or minimize the possibility of such disruptions (see this link), it may be helpful to address this matter in open conversation with our students and each other. I urge you to refuse to “privatize” any such incidents: report them to your department chairs and deans, talk to your colleagues to build awareness about what’s going on, and please feel free to reach out to me as well.
I look forward to seeing everyone soon.
As the local, statewide, and federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changes, i urge you to remain attentive to information coming from your Chairs, Deans and the upper administration. Our access to campus, including our labs and offices, will be determined by the capacity and effectiveness of pandemic control measures for the near future, and our behaviors play a crucial role in those measures. We must exemplify vigilance, calm, and care in navigating this unprecedented crisis.
In the meantime, i offer a few points of information and emphasis:
Take care everyone and i hope i’ll see some of you at my virtual office hours soon!
Dear UCR Senate Colleagues (please spread the word to other faculty, students, and staff, including student staff):
As of yesterday (March 13), Riverside County Public Health has ordered all school, college, and university campuses CLOSED from Monday the 16th through April 3. This means no one other than those designated “critical personnel” are allowed on campus under criminal penalty (!). (https://www.rivcoph.org/Portals/0/Documents/CoronaVirus/schoolorder.pdf
So… if you have anything in your campus offices or labs that you need over the next three weeks (and possibly longer), i suggest you retrieve it this weekend.
In the spirit of supporting all of you through this bizarre time, i will be on campus periodically this weekend to offer (socially distanced) assistance and (socially distanced) “office hours” for anyone who needs it. This includes physical help with retrieving things if you need help. I will generally be in UOB 225 (Senate Chair office), with the door closed. Just email if you need me, i'll be checking frequently: dylan.rodriguez@ucr.edu
Also, calm down, i have plenty of toilet paper if you need any.
Dear UCR Senate Colleagues:
As everyone prepares for Spring Quarter "remote learning" classes, i want to offer some advice and insight that is informed by what’s been happening at other UC campuses and universities around the country. As always, feel free to email me at my personal UCR email address if there’s anything you think i should communicate to campus administration and leadership: dylanr@ucr.edu
Dr. Richard Edwards, Director for the Center for Teaching & Learning/XCITE: richard.edwards@ucr.edu Israel Fletes, Director of Academic Technology/XCITE: israel.fletes@ucr.edu
Stay safe and healthy, everyone. dylan
I am writing to encourage a close reading of the jointly authored document sent by Interim Provost/EVC Tom Smith minutes ago titled “COVID-19: Important instructional continuity guidance.” Please note that:
I thank Committee on Educational Policy Chair Stefano Vidussi and Graduate Council Chair Jason Stajich for working on the co-authored document, which i have included in its entirety below for your convenience. I can assure you that the temporary suspension of specific exam and instructional policies due to this extraordinary campus circumstance is precisely that: temporary. The Senate’s Executive Council, which had an extended discussion of the issues covered in the below document with the Interim PEVC and Associate Provost on Monday, March 9, will take a formal vote on these temporary suspensions of policy in the next day or so (per Senate bylaw 8.5.3).
I emphasize that faculty will continue to own and determine the disposition of any instructional and/or creative materials uploaded for online use.
The UCR Senate website has created a page that provides instructional guidance for the period during which in-person exams and instruction are suspended. This website will be updated as needed with information that directly affects the instructional and research mission of the university: Senate COVID-19
Be healthy everyone. Peace dylan
FWD:"COVID-19: Important instructional continuity guidance"
Faculty Colleagues,
Earlier today, you received an update on academic continuity and campus operations related to COVID-19. This is a follow up message with important additional information for instructors related to academic continuity. Please read this carefully.On Thursday March 5, we issued this guidance to help instructors implement instructional continuity plans that prioritize and protect student, faculty and staff health while maximizing flexibility for online delivery of each course. If you are currently teaching a course but have not yet reviewed this guidance, please do so.On Monday March 9, the Provost met with the Senate Executive Council to discuss additional measures beyond this initial guidance to further protect the health of our campus community, while supporting student learning.
Based on this discussion, and with the full support of the Senate Executive Council, we are issuing the following guidance to instructors:
In all cases, it is the instructor’s responsibility to communicate course-specific information clearly to students. This includes the status of remaining instruction and assignments for winter quarter, the status of winter quarter final exams, and the status of spring quarter instruction. Importantly, this means spring quarter instructors must communicate their online instructional plans to students prior to the commencement of spring quarter. All instructors may access their spring quarter course lists through iLearn beginning now. Students will have access to spring quarter courses in iLearn beginning March 15.
The Academic Senate offers the following guidance to facilitate the faculty’s fulfillment of their instructional responsibilities under these extraordinary circumstances:
Instructional Guidance Specific to Graduate Education
Thank you again for helping UCR respond to the challenges created by COVID-19. Please remain alert for additional guidance that will be issued as new information is received.
Sincerely, Tom Smith Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Dylan Rodriguez Chair of the Riverside Division of the Academic Senate
Dear Senate Colleagues,
I am writing to assure you that the UCR Academic Senate is actively preparing for potential campus contingencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m sure you have been paying close attention to this serious, constantly changing global health crisis. As UC campuses in Northern California begin to seriously consider the possibility of temporary closures, we must prepare for the possibility that our campus may be doing the same very soon.
While our Senate is navigating unusual and exceptional circumstances on this issue, i would like to offer some basic guidance on how i am asking our Senate committees to approach their work in the event that the campus temporarily shuts down.
Some committees find it perfectly reasonable and efficient to periodically carry out their work through email discussion and decision making. On matters that are not of extremely high confidentiality, this practice may need to expand a bit, to whatever degree the committees and their leadership deem it appropriate.
The Senate has generally not encouraged or sanctioned videoconference meetings--Skype, Zoom, and the like. This is because the matters discussed in committees are often of high sensitivity and utmost confidentiality. Security can be very easily compromised, usually involuntarily or unintentionally, when using videoconference technology. Further, Senate leadership has consistently expressed concern that allowing individual committee members to participate in meetings through videoconference might well undermine the coherence and integrity of their committees in the long run. As many of us have expressed in relation to online learning, there is no substitute for face-to-face interactions, especially when dealing with complex, challenging, or contentious matters.
Yet, the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic compel some temporary flexibility in the Senate’s approach to committee meetings. The Senate analysts working with committees will contact committee members in the coming days to provide options for utilizing videoconference technology (Zoom) in the event of a temporary campus closure. If the campus shuts down, i encourage committees to utilize this technology to hold committee meetings that do not involve highly confidential exchange of information on personnel files, faculty grievances, and so forth.
We must be highly selective and judicious about the use of such meeting technology in regard to the sensitive discussions of our Committees on Academic Personnel, Charges, Privilege and Tenure, and others whose agendas may include discussions and decisions that must be kept in the highest confidence. Thus, on such matters, i would like to offer the general guidance that these committees do their best to refrain from discussions and decision-making during any potential campus closure, with highly specific exceptions to be decided by the committee Chairs in conversation with committee members and analysts, and perhaps with me if they think it would be helpful.
These highly specific exceptions would be made in instances where the matters at hand are so urgent that any delay of deliberation and action would compromise our colleagues’ (personal and/or professional) well-being and/ or the fundamental integrity and credibility of the committee’s work.
(One example of such a highly exceptional instance would be in the case of a personnel action that had direct implications for a faculty retention or appointment—that is, a personnel action that was not otherwise typical.) I trust the judgment of the committee chairs, analysts, and members to determine their approach, and will be readily available to discuss these decisions if committees need my input or analysis.
Finally, in order to sustain our Senate’s work in the event of a temporary campus closure, i ask that all committee members pay close attention to their email for communication from committee chairs and analysts. We must act decisively and urgently in response to this spreading health crisis, while simultaneously fulfilling our responsibilities to the Shared Governance process.
Peace Dylan Rodriguez Chair of the Riverside Division of the Academic Senate
