Dear Campus Community,
California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White announced today that the CSU will continue to operate virtually for the remainder of the academic year, through May of 2021. The CSU will continue the policy of allowing limited exceptions for in-person activities on campuses and make on-campus student housing available with reduced populations.
When Chancellor White made the decision months ago to move to distance learning for the fall 2020 semester, we all had hoped the prospects for our health and safety would have improved enough to make a return to our campuses possible when the spring 2021 semester commences in January. But as the chancellor said in his announcement, the pandemic still presents a very real threat to the lives of our students, faculty, staff and the communities we serve. The risk is just too great.
I know this news is hard to hear. Like many of you, I look forward to the day when we all can be together again. But this is a necessary step to keep us safe. Public health officials have expressed deep concern about additional waves of COVID-19 and about the cumulative impact of COVID-19 and the annual flu season, which would be peaking in late January when our next semester begins and when students would normally be returning to campus.
The chancellor made the decision now, months before the spring 2021 semester, to allow us time to plan and further refine our distance learning, which, through your patience, hard work and ingenuity has been a success here at CSUB. I commend your resilience and effort, and I ask that we carry that spirit forward, because we will need it.
Factors that influenced Chancellor White’s decision included the desire to give students and their families appropriate time to plan, the need to publish and promote course offerings in campus academic plans, and accreditation requirements for courses delivered virtually.
Let me share with you these words from the chancellor, whose sentiments I echo:
“Let me close by again thanking you and acknowledging that our resilience is being tested. But I see evidence every day that we are more than up to the challenges, now and in the journey ahead. And I see evidence that we are courageously doing the right thing – for the moment and for the short- and long-term future of our beloved university. Indeed, we have shown courage to do the right thing – even when it is unpopular.”
’Runner community, you define resilience. As we observe the 50th anniversary of this great institution over the course of this unprecedented time in the life of education in this country, let us reflect on what has made CSUB strong over the decades: grit, perseverance and resilience. Let us not abandon those traits now, when we need them most.
Please look for more information in the coming weeks when it becomes available.
I miss you, but I feel the presence of our community all around me.
Lynnette Zelezny, Ph.D., M.B.A.
President
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