[Opening screen – Image of Johnston Hall and text “Welcome – Return to Campuses Town Hall – April 1, 2021”]

[Dr. Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Hello everybody, I believe that you can now hear me. Welcome, everybody to the town hall for the University of Guelph and let me first of all say for those of you who haven’t met me or don’t know I’m Charlotte Yates, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Guelph, and I’m really delighted that so many of you were able to join us today for this important town hall with the entire University of Guelph executive team.

Before we begin, I’d like to note that this event will be recorded and will be posted on our website for those who could not be here today. So if you have colleagues, please let them know that they can still listen in if they weren’t able to join us live.

As we gather virtually and begin our discussion today, I would ask that we first reflect on the lands on which we reside and those that connect us as part of the University of Guelph. As we know the University of Golf Campus resides.
on the Treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit and lands of the Anishinnabe, Hodinohso:ni, Lūnaapéewak and Wendat peoples who have inhabited these lands for centuries. We recognize that these lands continued to be home to diverse communities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Through this land acknowledgement and our actions today and everyday, hereafter we reaffirm the University of Guelph’s commitment to ensuring that Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing are meaningfully and respectfully woven into the framework of our institution with the goals of reconciliation, decolonization and an equitable future for all.

The purpose of today’s town hall is to bring together students faculty and staff from our Guelph, and Ridgetown campuses to provide an overview of the latest return-to-campus plans for the fall and most importantly answer your questions.

I realize that there is a terrible irony to having this discussion today as we know the Premier Ford is about to announce another lockdown, but in many ways today is the best day to begin this conversation.

I just out, actually, came off a conversation talking about how COVID for many people has been a very and continues to be a very dark tunnel, and we need to have hope about what the future is. But we also needto be confident that future is safe for our families, our friends and our communities.

This is the beginning of a conversation about how our community can gradually and – not tomorrow, not next week, but gradually – begin. It’s planning to return to campus with under kind of robust health and safety conditions. We recognize the public health experts are saying we’re in the middle of the third wave, so I want to emphasize that the plans that we’re discussing today are getting us ready for the fall.

We have five months until September. A lot happened to us between November and March of 2019-2020 when most of us up until that last moment, really didn’t know what a pandemic was. Now we’ve been in and for more than a year.

And so we, but we also expect significant change over the next five months. We expect that there will be the opportunity for a gradual planned return to campus over the spring and late spring and summer, mindful of health and safety, but also the incredible need for planning and thoughtfulness as we think about returning to campus. Today I will say will be the first of a number of town halls, so please don’t feel this is your only chance to have conversations about and ask questions about return to campus. We will hold regular town halls in order to keep the community up-to-date and in order that you can keep us apprised of your interest concerns and also optimism about the future as we plan for
fall 2021.

Our approach is driven both by our mission and by a set of principles. We are primarily a learner-centered research university whose raison d’etre is our students, what faculty are teaching or research and all of the people who contribute to our excellence in those domains.

Above all though, when we think about our principles of returning to campus, above all the collective health, safety and well-being of our community continues to guide our decision making.

Any return to campus approach will be gradual and inclusive. It will be respectful. We will remain responsive to the dynamic nature of the pandemic and public health guidelines and as flexible as possible to the vulnerable needs of our community members.

Over the past year, we were able to safely reopen parts of our campus for some teaching. We have had residence, essential research and other important services and operations and I want to say in particular, a great thank you to all the people who have been working on campus, have worked safely, but continued to contribute to our mission for research excellence and teaching excellence, but also for keeping us safe.

All of those hospitality and physical resource staff, library staff, CCS who worked so hard to have kept the campus, the physical campus, running the past year.

I also want to say thank you to all of you who have worked so hard in a virtual environment to also keep us up and running. It’s been a partnership between all of us to make sure that we’ve been successful to date. We’re also hearing
and seeing positive news that – our robust rollout – most Canadians will have access to a vaccination by the summer. We are home to a vaccination clinic on the University of Guelph campus. It is in the UC and it’s up and running, and it’s been aided by more than 500 volunteers, many of whom are students, faculty and staff.

We’re also working very, very closely with the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit and the Guelph Family Health team.

We are now vaccinating 500 people a day but are very quickly ramping up to 750 per day when vaccine supplies available. We have the capacity and expect to ramp up to 2000 a day.

The clinic is among the many ways that faculty, staff and students have remained committed to our mission to support one another but improve life over the last year.

I want to personally thank all of those who are working with the vaccination clinic. Thank you for your dedication to not just the University of Guelph, to the entire community who sees the University of Guelph’s giving hope to all of them.

I know there’s strong community interest, a lot of anxiety about the return to campus, so let me assure you that as we plan, and this today is about planning for the fall, are evidence-based and shaped by community input. We continue to hear that several im-person elements of university life are irreplaceable for rich teaching, learning, research, work experience and the mental health of our community.

The results of our student surveys show a clear design desire for on-campus learning and we are currently reviewing the results from the faculty and staff survey. I want to thank all of you who participated in that survey. That information will be critical both in understanding your concerns but also helping us plan for the future.

We know that there’s a lot on your mind as we contemplate the return to campus and your feedback today will help us. Our hope is that we will be able to experience the familiar bustle of a new school year at U of G this fall, but
in order to do that requires planning, planning, planning.

So we’re five months away from the fall and we’re beginning conversations with staff, faculty and administration about signage cleaning, PPE, ventilation. We know that we have to be thoughtful and planned in our return, and we also know that planning needs to happen. Now, I know for some of you are saying, “Why would we start now we’re in the middle of a lockdown?” There are a couple of good reasons that one is it was very easy for us to kind of flee to our homes in
March. Most of us had homes to go to. And, therefore, and yes we had makeshift offices in places to work, and I’ve seen many of them on the Zoom calls I participated in with many of you.

But nonetheless, that exitus from campus was relatively easy. Bringing back thousands of people to work, study, research is a lot more complex operation. It must be done with care, and that requires time. We need to use the time we have now, so that we’re not scrambling as we move forward.

Secondly, I want to emphasize that despite today’s cloudy and cool weather, soon it will be warm and soon summer will come. I am asking and expecting all of you to take some summer vacation. We worked so hard last summer. Many of us were unable to take vacation because of the need to plan for the fall of 2020. I do know we have the time now to plan so that you can take time off. I believe time off is needed for everyone across campus. It’s been a stressful, difficult year and that time off is important for us to share positive time with family if possible, but also for us ourselves to recuperate.

W’re committed to keeping you informed of our plans as they evolve and also to continuing to listen and get feedback.

So I’m confident that we can do this together with hard work, thoughtfulness and kind of empathy for our colleagues.

So what’s the format of today’s event? And at times, Teams Live is always a little bit of an odd one because there’s always a little bit of a lag, and we can’t have the same dynamism that we can do on a Teams where you can ask me those questions directly. So the vice-presidents and I look forward to answering your questions this afternoon and the format will be each vice-president will do a little introductory presentation on their area of campus and then you’ll see that you can post your questions in the chat. And I will ask, perhaps Kim or Audrey to advise us in the chat how people might, so I can read it out, how people who are on the phone might be able to pose the question.

Our goal is to answer as many of your questions as possible. If we’re unable to answer all your questions, we will have an FAQ available which will pick up on those questions. Sometimes we’ll bundle questions together that we see as similar and of course for the latest updates and announcements you can visit University of Guelph.ca at COVID-19 (www.uoguelph.ca/covid19).

So let me turn it, let me now turn the mic over to our provost, Gwen Chapman who will begin with a presentation around academic planning.”

[Dr. Gwen Chapman, interim provost and vice-president (academic) speaking – Slide on the screen reads “Academic Planning – Dr. Gwen Chapman, Interim Provost and Vice-President (Academic)]

“Thank you, President Yates. And thank you to everybody for taking time to join us today as we look at look ahead, and as we plan for fall about the steps that we need to take to prepare for that. As Dr. Yates has acknowledged, I also want to acknowledge that we are in a very challenging time. Right now, things feel tough now as they have for the past year. Even in a normal year this would be a time of the year when faculty, instructors and students are feeling pretty exhausted and given the pandemic I know that all of those feelings are significantly exacerbated as we watch those COVID numbers. And as we are anticipating another lockdown, certainly this is a context for concern, and all of that makes it difficult to look ahead to the fall to imagine a context where the pandemic will be waning. But as President Yates has said, we do need to do some planning now so that we’re ready for fall when we anticipate that things will be very different than throughout the last year, but certainly over the last couple of months, we have continued to be in regular contact with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. And it’s based on their advice and the recent developments of the vaccination rollout that we are optimistic for a safe return to in-person teaching and learning activities this fall.

If we can go to the next slide, please just highlighting a couple of key points here.

[Slide showing two equal points:
1. Health and Safety – Continue to engage WDG Public Health in all aspects of planning for our return.
2. Campus Activity – Students, faculty and staff can count on being on campus this fall]

“Certainly we welcome and are excited about the possibility of being back on campus. As Dr. Yates said, we have certainly heard from students and faculty alike that many people are very much missing that face-to-face contact and are looking forward to being back in the fall. But again, you can be assured that the health and wellness of our campus community is our top priority. We do expect that some of the health and safety measures will still be in place come September and return to campus will continue to be guided by public health and government protocols.

We will continue to monitor things over the coming weeks and months and adjust our plans as needed.

So before I do discuss what the academic delivery will look like in the fall, I want to reiterate that our plans that we’re presenting today are based on the vaccination rollout and the current predictions for the fall, not our current state. So we will continue to look towards that.

Things will change as the public health situation changes.

So to move to the next slide which focuses on course delivery throughout the pandemic.

[Slide with title “Fall Course Delivery” and the following points:

– Primarily In-person – Most courses to include face-to-face classes, labs or other student experiences
– Hybrid Delivery Available – Some courses may include remote learning tools
– Resources and Training – Support available to instructors for course delivery
– Course Selection – Course listings expected to be available to students by late June]

“Of course, we have seen a significant shift to remote and online learning, but as mentioned we are planning to resume primarily face-to-face teaching in the fall. And that means that most courses will return to face-to-face. Whether that is a full face-to-face delivery or some kind of hybrid model of delivery. The hybrid models of delivery can include some combination of in-person activities and continued use of remote learning tools that we have all become very familiar with over the last year – things like live-capture recorded lectures and so on.

Implementing the hybrid models does require appropriate technology so we are making enhancements to many of our classrooms over the summer to ensure that any plans that instructors have are adequately supported. We have circulated a detailed breakdown of the classroom updates over the last week, but generally I would say that these enhancements certainly will assist capture and broadcast of lectures as well as to facilitate engagement with remote learners.

Beyond the technological support, there will be additional training and human resource supports available to instructors and throughout the summer some training sessions can be scheduled. Classrooms will be available to practice using the technology for those who are interested in doing that.

So the final piece of the puzzle of courses. What courses will be offered? When the information about that will be available?

So currently, we plan for course information to be posted on Web Advisor by June and available to students for course selection in early July. And again, these dates are based on our current predictions for the fall and we will adjust as we need to if required.

So moving on to the next slide.

[Slide with title “Campus and Student Services and the following points:
– Residence and Housing – All residences will be open for the fall with students accomodated in single rooms
– Academic Services – Working on a return to more normal hours and increased access to in-person services
– Student Life and Wellness – Student Experience and other program providers will provide in-person programming
– Orientation Week – O-Week will be delivered through both in-person and virtual programming]

“To touch upon some of the campus and student services and our plans for those for fall, similar to our plans for course delivery, we expect to safely increase our in person, student and academic services that includes opening all of
our campus residences for single room occupancy.

Student Housing Services is working closely with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health to keep all aspects of health and safety in mind. As we make our plans to return, the primary focus will be on ensuring space for first year and international students.

As well, we will be continuing to support international students who must observe the mandatory quarantine program.

We are hoping we will certainly encourage students who are going to be in residence too, as well as all students, to be vaccinated if possible.

With the return to residents we will also be seeing a return to a hybrid O-Week. We know that the University of Guelph is renowned for its student experience, so I’m pleased to share that this year the Student Experience
team, faculty and staff partners will be delivering some in person activities during O-Week. It will also include an O-Week 2.0 that’s dedicated to our current first-year students who missed out on an in-person experience
last fall. I know I talked to a few students during the recent House Calls, and one of them was talking about her excitement about being on campus in the fall, but worried that she would get lost. Worried that she wouldn’t be able to
find where her classes are. So we are going to be providing those supports.

The University programming will be complemented by student associations who will be hosting their orientations in a virtual format. We are similarly planning to for a robust delivery of in-person and virtual services to support all students in a summer transition program for, again, our first-year students who are looking forward to being on campus for the first time as well. Throughout the fall Student Experience as well as clubs and associations, will plan for some in-person programming.

In terms of other campus and student services there will be a full range of health and wellness services available, both in-person and virtually. The library does expect to move back to more normal hours with increased access to safe study spaces that over the fall.

And in Athletics we expect a full complement of sports, intramurals, clubs and fitness programs will resume.

So again, while we’re excited to be able to offer more in-person services, I do want to stress that all of those offerings will be planned in strict accordance with the public health guidelines to ensure the health and safety of our community.

So that’s sort of my overview and I look forward to being able to answer some questions and then in the question period.”

[President Yates speaking]
“Thank you very much, Gwen. So let me now turn the mic over to Malcolm Campbell, our vice-president (research). Over to you, Malcolm.”

[Malcolm Campbell, Vice-President (Research) speaking. Slide on the screen reads “Research Planning – Dr. Malcolm Campbell, Vice-President (Research)]

“Thank you, President Yates. And thank you everyone for joining us today.

It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to talk to you even if it is under such extenuating circumstances.

Within the research enterprise at University of Guelph, because we are a research-intensive University, we’ve employed a research-based approach over the course of the last year to help us ensure that we’re able to have
significant activities within the research enterprise.

Our research-based approach is involved effectively setting hypotheses, testing those hypotheses by collecting data through consultation, through examination of best practice, through the expiration of the literature, and then devising solutions that have allowed us to navigate the research that we do at University of Guelph through these challenging times.

Next slide, please.”

[Slide on screen reads:
“Lessons Learned
– Research during pandemic could be managed safely, including within University facilities and for research involving human parcitipants
– Pandemic has been uneven in its effects
— Some groups are much more negatively impacted than others
— Similarly, some research areas and activities are much more negatively impacted than others
– Novel opportunities have emerged
— New research
— New funding
— Remote access to partners and talent]

Over the course of these activities, we’ve learned some important lessons. First of all, research during the pandemic could be managed safely, including within University of Guelph facilities, and even for research involving human participants.

In fact, some of our research activities at University of Guelph have carried on unabated since the state of emergency was declared 54 weeks ago. We’ve had our research staff in our testing laboratories and across our field stations, 450 people all told, who have continued to work despite the pandemic.

They been able to do so in a safe manner. On the basis of this experience, we were able to bring almost 2,000 researchers online by the time the end of the summer rolled around.

So in August of 2020, again maintaining research activities within campus facilities without an instance of transmission occurring, or even any case of COVID-19 occurring within the research enterprise. That said, it’s been clear, and there’s good literature growing on this that the pandemic has had uneven effects. Some groups are much more negatively impacted than others.

In particular, equity deserving groups have been, have been negatively impacted by the pandendemic and similarly some research areas and activities. Those, for example, involving face-to-face research, those where research cannot be done at a distance, are much more negatively impacted than others.

Flip side of that, of course, is that there have been some new opportunities that have emerged. New venues for doing research, new research opportunities, new funding to support that research, and remote access to partners and to talent
that previously hadn’t existed or was difficult to do. We now don’t give second thought to, for example, engaging in Teams and connecting in fora like this, whereas it might have been difficult for us to do 56 weeks ago.

So some new opportunities as well as challenges that we have to contend with.

So with this knowledge in hand, how is it that we grapple with the research enterprise as we learn, as we work to regrow it and reinvigorate it going forward in the future? Next slide, please.”

[Slide on screen reads:
“From Recovery to Reinvigoration
– Build on what we’ve accomplished
– EDI at the fore: Inclusive reinvigoration
— Everyone has the opportunity to achieve the same success
— No research areas or types are disadvantaged, and opportunity prevails
– Manage new health and safety realities
– Reimagine our robust research platform
– Leverage new and emerging opportunities
— New research areas, new ways of doinn research and new funding
— Access to partners(networking) and talent]

“As we move from merely recovery and – arguably and we have good metrics to show this, our research enterprise has recovered to an extent despite the pandemic conditions – it’s important for us to move to a state of reinvigorating and
re-imagining what the research enterprise at University of Guelph looks like. We can do this by building on what it is that we’ve already accomplished. Through the use of strategic management plans, research management plans that we put in place, that are based on public health requirements that allow people to do their research within University facilities is something that we can build on. It’s been tried and tested, and as I said, it’s enabled us to bring around 2,000 researchers back to University of Guelph operated facilities, indeed, across 600 different locations.

What’s going to be very important as we take advantage of what we’ve accomplished is that we have equity diversity and inclusion at the fore. As I said, equity deserving groups, priority groups that have been detrimentally impacted by the pandemic and therefore we need to be particularly attentive as we regrow our activities and reinvigorate them that we pay heed to the ongoing challenges that those same groups are going to face as we meet, as we move forward, making sure that everyone has the opportunity to achieve the same successes and then no research areas or types of research are disadvantaged and that in the end, opportunity prevails.

We’ll have to manage new health and safety realities. We are really not entering a post-COVID world. SARS-COV-2 will still be with us. We will need to take on board what it is that’s being done in other jurisdictions and based on the best literature and make the wisest decisions as we have for the last 54 weeks to move the research enterprise forward. We’ll need to reimagine our robust research platform. What are things that we didn’t do before that we might be able to do now? How might we be able to do things better than we did before? Let’s reinvigorate the platform that we put in place. And our teams have started to look at how we can do this.

Finally, related to that, are there opportunities to leverage new and emerging opportunities? New research areas, new ways of doing research and new funding?

Are there things that we can do in terms of accessing partners through networking and accessing the talent pool through some sorts of mechanisms?

Final slide.”

[Slide on screen reads:
“From Recovery to Reinvigoration (continued)
– Adapt our successful pandemic planning approach
– Guided by our Strategic Research Plan
– Consultation with our research community
– Leadership provided by the Research Continuity Group
– Adapt best practice from other jurisdictions
– Benchmark against other institutions
– Supported by the Office of Research
— Policy, Action, Oversight, Compliance, Communication”]

“How would we go about doing this? Well, again as I said, making use of our tried and tested approach we’ve been making use by adapting our successful pandemic planning approach, as I said, using research management plans guided by our strategic research plan and we really have taken advantage of it through the pandemic. This has involved making use of that strategic plan, the principles embedded therein, and consulting with our research community to understand how best to serve their needs. We will be continuing to do that.

Leadership will be provided by our 22-member research continuity group who has acted throughout the pandemic in an absolutely phenomenal way to help us actually have a more active research enterprise than compared to other institutions, certainly here within the province and arguably nationally.

We’ll be able to adopt best practices from other jurisdictions to achieve our desired goal of research invigoration and benchmark against other institutions to make sure that we are performing at least as well as they are.

Finally, all of these activities will be supported by the Office of Research to ensure that we are fulfilling our obligations, both provincially and nationally with regards to policy, action, oversight, compliance and communication.

We look forward to working closely together with you, to serve you as we have over the course of the last 54 weeks to really make a difference and ensure that University of Guelph continues to mobilize knowledge into action and realize our ambition to improve life. Thanks everyone for your time. I look forward to answering your questions.”

[President Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks, Malcolm and now let me turn it over to our new – well, relatively new – vice-president (finance and operations) who some of you may not yet have met, Sharmilla Rasheed.

[Sharmilla Rasheed, vice-president (finance and operations) speaking – Slide on screen reads “Finance and Operations – Sharmilla Rasheed, Vice-President (Finance and Operations)]
“Thank you, President Yates and many thanks to all of you for taking the time to join us. For those of you who don’t know me, or I haven’t met as yet, I am on campus every day. If you want to stop by and say hi, making sure we’re physically distancing and wearing our masks.

I’m Sharmilla Rasheed, VP for finance and operations at the University of Guelph.

And thanks again for joining us today while we continue to plan for a variety of scenarios and would always put the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff first.

All indicators and advice from public health point to COVID-19 looking very different in September compared with now. I know this is really hard to imagine given what is happening today. However, the Government of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination plan projects all at-risk individuals will be vaccinated and many members of the general public will receive their vaccination by September, or at least their first shot.

And as President Yates said, we do have a robust clinic running here in the UC building to support these efforts.

The current science is also showing that the COVID-19 vaccination seems effective on most variants and there may be a review of the physical distancing requirements, which could decrease to 1 metre coming up into September.

As this is an evolving time through the pandemic, testing and contact tracing in Ontario is established and rapid testing is being deployed widely. The University has been participated in a rapid testing pilot since the end of February. As a result, we are planning with this optimistic view for September.

Next slide, please.

[Slide on screen reads:
“Current September Outlook
Indicators are positive:
– all at-risk people will be vaccinated by end of July 2021
– vaccines seem effective on most variants
– rapid testing is being deployed
(A line with arrow tips at either and is at the bottom of the slide. It shows “Lockdown equivalent” at the left end and “Optimistic equivalent” at the right end. A red circle on the line closer to the “Optimistic equivalent” is above text that reads “Most likely scenario as of today”)]

“Each manager, leader or designate will develop a plan to gradually return their employees to campus beginning May. Return to campus is to be prioritized for those providing services that are critical or time-sensitive,
and supporting teaching, research on-site, student experiences and return to campus activities.

A staffing framework, prioritization decision matrix and process map for developing and implementing an operational plan will be shared and posted on our Return to Campus webpage. Our very robust and hard working Return to Campus committee are working to pull all of the templates, documents related to return to campus on this webpage and more information will come on this.

Managers and leaders should consider a hybrid work arrangement and associated equipment needs that for their areas, that plan should integrate individuals’ consideration for accommodation that is consistent with the University’s human rights commitment.

Occupational health and wellness, your human resources representatives, are there to assist you on these various accommodation options. Some employees will continue to work remotely determined by their managers and in partnership with them. Human resources is working on a flexible work policy for our post-COVID University that would align with our academic and research mission.

Everyone must continue to complete those COVID-19 screening and reporting requirements.

Our team again, our Return to Campus committee, are working really hard behind the scenes to ensure that tool is fairly easy to use and can be used on your cell phone.

Next slide, please.

[Slide on screen reads
“Staffing Operational Plan
– Address requirements for training , marking and physical distancing
– Develop a method for maintaining a record of employees on-campus; secure local Joint Health and Safety Committee review and feedback on the plan
– Develop cleaning and disinfecting protocols; source supplies
– Submit plan to AVP or Dean for approval; communicate plan to employees and address concerns”]

All employees must complete the Environmental Health and Safety COVID-19 Infection Prevention Control Awareness training through CourseLink.

Physical resources will be working with the leaders within the departments to ensure that all cleaning and disinfecting protocols and supplies are in place and how to order those.

Department units will need to develop a method for maintaining records of employees attending campus to facilitate contact tracing as required. The plan should be shared with the Joint Health and Safety Committee for review and feedback.

While managers, leaders or designates will be creating the operational plans in partnership with their employees AVPs must approve all plans. Health and safety will confirm all health and safety measures have been implemented within the areas.

Managers, leaders and designates provide orientation to all returning employees on the plan that they have developed emphasizing responsibility and accountability by every single employee. The manager or the designate will need to monitor the compliance to the plan. All of us will need to adjust our plans as required by the University, public health and government policies as the pandemic evolves.

Next slide, please.

[Slide on screen reads:
“Staffing Operational Plan
– Confirm health and safety measures; equipment and technology
– Monitor compliance
– Provide orientation; return employee to campus
– Adjust plan as required by University, public health, government”]

Implementing the operational plans requires increased connectivity and communication across the campuses. While extensive planning has been happening behind the scenes, there is a need to ensure that each departmental unit has identified a leader to ensure measures are implemented and maintained. The executive leadership team has appointed a Return to Campuses project manager and I’m really pleased that Melissa has accepted this to support leaders with their plans and implementation.

[Slide on screen shows a picture of Melissa Horan below the words Key Contact and the text:

Supporting and Implementing the Plan

Melissa Horan, MPH
Project Manager, Return to Campuses
Office of the VPFO
Ext. 53314
mhoran@uoguelph.ca].

Thank you for taking the time and I look forward for questions through this venue or by email.

[President Charlotte Yates speaking]

“Thank you everyone for your presentation. So we’ll now move into question format and I’ll be moderating the questions.

I’ve been following the chat while I’m waiting for some of the…nothing in the published version, so let me just do a little bit of traffic directing here around some of the questions.

I’m going to start with a question which I’ve seen. It’s been asked by multiple people in slightly different forms, so and this is for you, Gwen, around the fact that we’re talking about a full face-to-face term. How are we managing that relative to if some students need or would like to do more virtual learning? What kind of facilities are classrooms going to have to be able to do some of that hybrid teaching so students who can’t come onto campus can still access lectures?

And so perhaps starting around that is, that is, that’s a theme.”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]

“So just so I’m clear, so just questions about what supports were putting in place for that sort of hybrid kind of teaching that we’re we’re helping people?”

[Charltote Yates]
“So, what are you expecting in terms of – clearly we don’t have public health rules yet that are saying how much of social distancing is recommended at a meter rather than two. Clearly that changes what it might look like on campus, so I guess what I’m – and then what about students? Will they have a choice around courses? So I think that whole distance in person, hybrid and how you’re balancing that?”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“Yeah and so I would say that we are still somewhat in our planning stage on this at this time. We are asking our units to engage in discussions about what courses they are planning to offer and what kinds of delivery modes are expected. We would normally have a certain proportion of our courses being available distance, through distance education and that will continue. So there will be some distance education courses available and other courses, it will be arranged, and there may be large lecture courses where the lectures are available or being delivered remotely and then there would be labs or tutorials that are face-to-face. In other cases it will be blended learning where again maybe there would be one lecture hour per week and the other material is being delivered remotely.

We know that different things work for different people, both in terms of what works for instructors, and what works for students. So we anticipate that there will be a range of delivery methods. As I mentioned, we are upgrading classroom technology. We did some last summer and we’re doing more this summer, so that all of our larger classrooms will be equipped with cameras and microphones so that for instructors who do want to live stream, they will be able to do so. For instructors who are wanting to lecture capture and then post the recorded lectures, that will be an opportunity as well and as you said, we are continuing to look at what we think is the most likely scenario in terms of things like physical distancing depending on that will really, that will really affect what our classroom capacity is and to what extent we’re able to have students in the classroom.

And really, how many students in a given classroom. And as we get a bit more clarity on that in the coming weeks, that will help us to have, to be able to provide more information. I mean at this point I would say that students generally should expect to be on campus in the fall, but there will be some remote learning opportunities available as well.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]

“So Gwen, maybe I’ll do a follow up question as this comes up as one of the questions and, can you just, are you working with the unions and around the collective agreements to sort out some of these?”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“Yeah absolutely. And I think that’s one of the reasons why we don’t have all of the answers now, because particularly we certainly working with the appropriate unions. Definitely working with the Faculty Association right now, we’re sort of in the middle of negotiations on and discussions about a letter of understanding that will help us clarify what are, what our shared understandings are on some of those issues.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thank you. Sharmilla, there’s a question here and I am going to broaden it beyond PPE. Will appropriate PPE, but I could say adjustment of workstations – many of us have seen the plexiglass where you have interaction with potential interaction. Will there be appropriate PPE and other arrangements and adjustments to workstations made for staff who are working on campus in the fall?

[Sharmilla Rasheed speaking]
“Thank you, President Yates. Appropriate PPE will be given to staff depending on the requirements identified by the managers for staff that are front facing to customers. That means students or other staff that depends on their jobs. Also, if identified by the managers that they’re front facing and they need plexglass, those will be…that’s part of the planning process that we will have the physical resources put in place. However, if you’re working behind the scene in your offices etc. and you’re not interacting on a continuous basis with students and other faculties and employees, you may not need plexiglas or PPE, but you will need to wear face coverings at all times as part as part of public health protocols.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“And I apologize. Thank you very much, I apologize I ended up jumping too early into questions. Of course, Daniel Atlin, a very important part of this is around communication and our external partners. So I apologize, Daniel is vice-president (external), we’ll move into his presentation, so please accept my apologies.”

[Daniel Atlin, Vice-President (External) speaking]
[Slide on screen with text “Engaging our partners – Daniel Atlin, vice-president (external)”]

“That certainly – and certainly I find no apologies necessary. I think if we’ve learned anything during the pandemic, it’s actually the need for us to be able to improvise and to be available to be impromptu according to the new cues. And I think that’s certainly what we’re seeing very much from the government as well. And that’s going to continue theme. And we’re seeing that despite the fact that the September 2021 seems like it’s very close to us, five months is a long way away for any government, especially a government, during a pandemic.

We’re seeing that governments are finding actually from week to week, actually a great deal of time, as there’s so much unknown. So what we’re still seeing is, of course, and everyone is aware of that today, that there’s many variables at play right now, so long-term planning does become difficult. But at the same time, what we do know is that there is progress, as we’ve heard from my colleagues around the table that there is progress expected and we have to plan for a September the does look very different than it is today.

And the decisions that are being made on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis continue, and it was with us. All of us. We were a little bit surprised about the shutdown that’s being announced today, however, it should be no surprise because the province has indicated that it will take decisions to be able to protect the province going forward as well.

So it’s very important that when we talk about that, all three levels of government, it’s the province that actually is the biggest determinant of what where we are going, and they’re the ones that actually introduced the rules and make the decisions.

[Slide on screen reads:
“Expectations Fall 2021- Government
What we know:
– Case counts > Public Health Measures, Regulations and Restrictions, April Shutdown
– Ambitious vaccine distribution plan:
— Phase 3: General Distribution – July 2021
– Government motivated to open the economy and establish normalcy
–Election – June 2022

The Unknown:
– Vaccine supply, public uptake and impact on case counts
– Potential new waves – size, duration and required restrictions”]

“Oftentimes those those can be prompted by local public health, but it is the province that is dictating everything. And that’s what they have been doing the past year and it can continue as well. And those decisions are going to depend upon case counts and including community spread, positivity rates and presence of the other variants, new variants of COVID that are coming in.

And so we have to actually pay a lot of attention to and our ability to collectively manage these aspects will really actually help us inform, as you’ve heard, our plans going forward into the fall.

We know vaccine rollout is very ambitious. We’ve heard that today, that everyone who wants one should be able to have a vaccine by the end of this summer. But of course this is dependent on supply, which changes from day to day and there’s also of course some confusion such as the Astra Zeneca guidelines and other other vaccine conversations that actually do pose some concerns about this strategy as well.

But we believe that we are working, that we will be in a significantly different period in September with vaccine being readily available.

It’s important to recognize as well that despite today’s announcement, the Ontario government is really facing intense pressures to continue to open the economy and to reopen it as well. It’s with great reluctance that they’re making this announcement today that we’ll see about the shutdown provisions.

Ontario has had some of the most significant restrictions and regulations in place in North America and we will see the province continue this for the next month, but hopefully that will be the last of actually the shutdowns, because we’re seeing as well not only that there’s fatigue but there’s also, I think, a fear from the from the province about some political backlash because the June 2022 election for provincially this mandated is only a little bit more than a year away and they want to really focus on more positive non-COVID related issues.

So then we are planning and we’re setting these plans that are based in the most appropriate information we have. But they will be determined of course, as we’ve mentioned, by vaccine supply, by the uptake of the vaccine and also, of course, by possible outbreaks in the Guelph community as well.

So our ongoing actions, though, are to maintain our close interaction with all three levels of government to be able to make certain that we are able to articulate our own plans to the province in particular to make certain that they’re recognizing that we are working collectively with our public health experts both on campus and to Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin Public Health and that we are having a very robust plan that protects actually the safety of the community and allows us to move forward in lockstep, I think, with our own campus community, but also with others in the sector.

[Slide on screen reads:
“Communications for Fall Return
– April shutdown and upcoming long weekend: WDG Public Health messaging, aligning with City of Guelph on the need for ongoing vigilance
– Ongoing COVID-19 updates including changes to Public Health and government protocols/guidelines; significant University developments/changes; and important updates re: changing coulours, etc.
– Updates/communication re: vaccinations, including communicating updates and/or changes in provincial rollout, on-campus clinic, etc.
– Targeted student vaccination campaign to start later this spring; leveraging of WDG Public Health social media campaign for general vaccination uptake
– Communications re: staff and academic frameworks for gradual return to campus
– Creation of a one-stop web-page for all Return to Campus frameworks, templates]

We are approaching this as well with the sector advocacy approach on many different issues. We are advocating for vaccine availability for all students, faculty and staff as soon as possible. We are advocating for access to provincial supply rapid tests and we continue to advocate for both provincial and federal governments for support on facilitating in-person classes for international students as well as requirements for quarantine, and visa processing and of course on vaccination for those international students.

So it’s a very dynamic environment. Without all three levels of government. We’re looking very closely, we’re monitoring, we’re adjusting our plans and we’re feeding that into our community. And we’re also having that inform our communications.

And as you know, we had a very robust communications approach throughout the past one year, and we’re going to continue this as well. And I apologize for people who are in some ways, perhaps exhausted by the number of communications that we have gotten out there. We are trying to over-communicate rather than under-communicate. We’re trying to actually make certain that people have the information they need. Because we know that right now, there’s a lot of misinformation as well.

We want to try and make certain that people have the appropriate information they need to make their decisions as well. So, you’re going to see a communication come out of the later on today that’s going to be actually about the shutdown and after we’re able to analyze the announcement that is happening at 1:30, we’ll be able to make those changes and able to communicate the measures that will be on campus going forward. Those will likely be very similar to what was announced in January, because I think that those those are the premises that were working under those regulations.

We will continue to be working very closely the public health and government colleagues on messaging, both social media, but also ongoing messages about not just University developments, but also about vaccines, about vaccine hesitancy, about the changing colors and what they mean to our community, and we will also be looking for – sooner, as we had into more eligibility for the next vaccination stages, we’ll be looking for targeted student vaccination campaigns as well to be able to start that later this spring.

And again, we’re going to be leveraging information from our Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health colleagues as well as the City of Guelph, as well.

So what you are also going to see is we are cleaning up our one-stop web page for Return-to-Campus frameworks and templates because we know that there’s been a lot of communications over the past year and there’s a lot of information to sift through.

You’ll see actually a new shutdown page that will be introduced as well to be able to have that relevant information going forward.

So we commit to be able to provide information to you as soon as we can, recognizing that there’s some complexity, sometimes that too, the messages that go out that require broad consultation because of the impact it has for our entire community in all the different areas on campus. But also making certain that we are aligned with that Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public health.

So, with that, thank you very much for the opportunity.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]

“So Daniel, maybe I’ll ask a question that really follows up on one that’s been posed, and that is the availability or the expected availability of vaccines for international students. So I wonder if you could, because someone has asked, will international students won’t have it available to them. Can you maybe make a comment about that?”

[Daniel Atlin speaking]
“So this is a very lively discussion right now that is happening with our Universities Canada advocacy group as well as with individual universities and the federal government to be able to make certain that both our province and our federal government recognize that we need to make sure that availability for international students so that they have access to it so that after their quarantine is completed in Canada that they can actually go forward. So we are working through those issues and they are very top of the advocacy agenda.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]

“And finally, Daniel, can you make a comment, someone asked what about students who were unable to come to the – international students – who were unable to come into Canada. Could you comment on the advocacy we’re doing around visa processing because visa processing has been perhaps the most significant reason why international students have not been able to get into the country.”

[Daniel Atlin speaking]

“Absolutely, we that again is one of those key advocacy elements that we have going forward. We’re pushing very hard for the visa processing, which has ground to a halt for all of our international students over the past year.
We are asking for them to step up, add additional resources to make certain that is increased and we know we have very strong support from our minister of Colleges and Universities, Ross Romano, who sees international students as very crucial to our economy. So the province has been a very good ally in pushing for this. However, we’re going to need to continue that advocacy going forward.

There is a balance, of course, that people are afraid of new entrants, new variants coming into Canada and there’s a lot of fear but we need to be again to be prepared for more students this fall. We also need to have some sort of framework as well that actually it can recognize those who have been vaccinated in their home country as well, so that we have to be able to fit that into the plans. Going forward with the government.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much, Daniel. So one of the questions, there’s been a question that has been posed in different forms by a number of people that has to do with the issue of requiring a vaccine and balancing that with the privacy of the individual. Or perhaps the rights of those who may not want a vaccine. And I am going to take the first answer that just this morning, I was on a call where so far I would say it’s unlikely that it will be legal unless the government decides to introduce some kind of vaccine passport, that in fact would be, I’m not sure it would be legal for us to require it and therefore I think this speaks to Daniel Atlinn did speak very very much about the importance of communication to overcome vaccine hesitancy to make sure that also and then this logistical support to make sure people are able to get their vaccine. So we’re really doubling down on the communication of the importance of vaccination and then around the coordination.

You should all know that faculty and staff who work at, and students, who work at the University of Guelph can register for their vaccine, whether they live in Guelph or not. So it’s very, very important and as Guelph is rolling up the vaccine very – as rapidly as possible. We’re doing well as a community, I think that’s important, especially as we start to think about kind of as we plan both for campus, but also our lives in terms of our family lives and so on.

So I’m going to pose a couple of other questions. Remote work policy has come up on a number of questions, so I’m wondering Sharmilla if you could, you did mention about the eventual development of a flexible work policy, I see we have Chris Nutt with us, so I wonder Sharmilla I’ll turn it over to you to answer.”

[Sharmilla Rasheed speaking]
“So continuing to working remote from home, that will be a decision made by the managers in consultation with the employees. So there are going to be employees that are going to continue to work remotely in the next few months. Going into the Fall etc., based on the needs of the department and the work that type of employee or employees are doing going.

Going forward in the future our human resources department is working on a flexible work policy that post-COVID University and what that looks like that will align with our University’s academic mission and research mission.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]

“Thanks very much Sharmilla. I think I would like to, I’m going to turn to Gwen just to double down a little bit on the answers around classroom and the
technological refit of classrooms. If you could, please.”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“Absolutely. So we are, we are certainly refitting many of our centrally booked classrooms and so we have the classrooms that normally seat more than 60 students, we’re upgrading 24 of those over the summer. So they will all have cameras, microphones and screens so that the instructors can interact with students who are online if desired and then some, several, or 12 smaller classrooms will have all of that plus microphones throughout the classroom so that students can actually interact with each other. I believe some of the colleges are also upgrading some of their college-booked spaces and I would say that instructors who are wanting to make use of that technology, so that certainly with the larger classrooms that’s the majority of our larger classrooms, and instructors who want to be using that kind of technology just make sure that the scheduling services knows that and I’m quite confident we’ll be able to put instructors who want to use the technology in rooms that have it.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much. So I’m picking up on a couple of different questions around timing. Timing of what we do, we’re doing, and so let me start by just reminding people, one of the reasons we’re meeting today is because it’s about planning. This planning takes time. It’s not like we’re suddenly rushing back onto campus as many of you will know, obviously Sharmilla is on campus. I’m often on campus, partly because I think it’s important that the essential staff also see me on there, but nonetheless it’s not like we’re all rushing back. I think the issue is planning and planning with health and safety as our major priority. And so as we do that planning. As you can see, there’s some complexity to that planning, but also we need to be thoughtful and your questions of which we now have, I think 150, tell us that there is there a lot of questions so as we do that planning, that’s important.

I think around timing as well we’re guided by public health and we’re guided by what their expectations are and their expectations are that as the vaccination rollup accelerates as more vaccines become available. But there will begin to be some shifts in terms of how our government on the federal government respond.

And finally, I think we need always to remember, and there was a separate question about this, and I’m not sure if we’re if we have a full answer on this, we need to balance both physical and mental health safety. As many as I see here saying they’re uneasy, they want to make sure we’re physically safe and I understand that and we’re working exactly on that thing.

The other issue is the mental health and save the mental health of people. And I think the isolation of working at home often in sub-optimal arrangements, the lack of interaction with our peers, with our colleagues has had its own tolls. So we always need to balance that.

But balancing doesn’t mean we take health and safety, physical health and safety at risk. It really means that we consider both and that we are evidence and scientific-based. Not based on a map I think will carry us a long way in terms of the appropriate timing. But we begin to come back on campus and also how we do that work.

So, let me pose, I will ask if there is a question and I think it’s an important one and I’m not sure if Sharmilla, Gwen, around the mental health supports, additional mental health supports and the question did say “please don’t say our mental health kind of initiative”. Something more. Are we planning something special around mental health supports for people coming back to campus and that could be students, faculty, and staff. So Sharmilla or Gwen?”

[Sharmilla Rasheed speaking]

“I will ask either Gwen or Martha to comment on the mental health support. Martha, I don’t know if you want to take a stab at first or Gwen?”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“I can maybe take a first stab at it and certainly say on the student side that we will certainly be continuing to provide very robust mental health supports for our students through Student Wellness. We will be providing both virtual as well as in-person supports, we would plan for in the fall. And so I think that this is an area as President Yates said that is certainly an area of concern and we have continued to really ramp up our efforts over the last number of years.

We fully recognize that this is an area of concern for both faculty, staff and students. All of those, and so are continuing to look at what there is that we can put in place through our employee assistance programs through the kinds of accommodations that we can put in place as needed, and then, as I say, for students with the Student Accessibility Services and Student Wellness that we are certainly continuing to provide the services and looking at how we may need to ramp those up as well, Martha, you may have more on the staff side.”

[Martha Harley, Associate Vice-President (Human Resources) speaking]

“Thanks, Gwen, I appreciate the opportunity. We recognize that throughout this pandemic the needs of affecting staff have evolved and changed in terms of the kind of resources that they access or they would like to access.
So we are in continual conversations to get that feedback to see what can be developed or what other resources can be provided to faculty and staff as we move in terms of looking to plan to come back in a greater presence come September, It’s important to us and it has been and it always will be in terms of the mental health supports that we provide effectively in staff particularly in this very unpredictable environment that we find ourselves in.

I see through the questions as you will see, that there is a degree of anxiety for individuals in terms of what will September look like, and we want to ensure that resources are available that are accessible to faculty and staff in terms of supporting their own mental health as we look to have a greater presence on campus.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much, Marthat. So I am, I’m going to take, there are a couple of questions. One of them is around rapid testing and I want to broaden that, if I can that in addition to the vaccination clinic and our encouragement of people to get the vaccine,in addition to the masking, on the physical distancing so far, the University has been engaged – were one of only two universities engaged – in a provincial pilot around rapid testing of our staff and students on campus at present.

We are hoping and expecting the federal government has available a large supply of rapid tests and so we are looking at what does that next stage of rapid testing look like? Because I do think that surveillance that it allows us to do but also, but what we want is a rapid test that is easily deployed. I think some of the ones that are the nasal swabs are really uncomfortable and students particularly expressed a dislike of them, so fair enough. What we’re looking for is a rapid one, and finally we continue to do the wastewater testing. We’re not the only university doing it, but we do. We’re very fortunate to have some really excellent researchers who are guiding us in this and that also, so multiple areas in addition to PPE, masking, social distancing that we’re doing to continue to both monitor campus, but also to keep it safe.

I do want to…one of the questions asked is around, how do we measure success? And I think that’s a really great question because it actually captures all of the VPs because, how DO we measure success? What will it look like if we say we’ve been successful? So I’m going to start us off and then I’m going to go to each VP and ask what would you measure as success. And I think some of the things that obviously we continue to be a research … tak pride in our research intensivity, so we want to hear from Malcolm about what would it look like to have research success.”

I think students being able to, in a timely way, complete their degree – their degree of choice. There was a question from a student about, so and I’m asking VPs to kind of pick up on one or two of these issues. What about the experiential learning opportunities that students have missed out on which are so valuable to them both in terms of their experience in their education but preparation for the next step? Can we comment on what we’re doing there?

And of course, around what would success look like in terms of government advocacy communication as well as planning on campus. So I wonder if I might just quickly go to all four VPs and I’ll start with Malcolm.”

[Malcolm Campbell speaking]

“Thank you, Charlotte. I think you already mentioned – and thank you for doing so – identifying the fact that we have had successes over the last year with the research enterprise. I note that despite the pandemic our applications, for example, for Tri-Agency funding are actually up this year and our overall Tri-Agency funding amounts are up 27% over last year. So we’ve really been able to continue to move forward with the research enterprise over this time period, despite the hardships that have been there. But that’s not to say that people haven’t experienced hardships, and I think what success looks like for me in the future, and I think for us as an institution in the future, is inclusive success, ensuring that we’re leaving no people behind that everybody is having an equal opportunity to achieve and realize their full potential at University of Guelph in as much as their research ambitions are concerned. So I think that’s what success looks like.

And we’re striving to realize that. As I said, we’ve got some good metrics to show that we’re making progress in that regard. And a bit of a teaser trailer for those of you who are who are senators on today’s call, I’ll be reporting on that on Monday’s Senate meeting on just what some of those successes are, and you’ll see some of those rollout in University announcements. So we’ve enjoyed successes. We could do better. Inclusive reinvigoration is what I’m calling it. That’s what success looks like.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Over to Daniel.”

[Daniel Atlin speaking]
“Thank you, well great question and I think we’ve had some great successes actually during during the pandemic I think. Actually, in our ability to, I think, demonstrate actually our responsiveness to the community. Our connection actually with governments as well. And I think we’ve been recognized for the wastewater treatment research for example, that was a great thing that we had very high degree of notice by all three levels of government. It was actually mentioned by the premier as well. So I think our success and being a partner with our community, our local community, such as in the vaccination center, I think that’s certainly a great measure of success. I think as well with the province in terms of being a partner with them for getting the economy back on track and being a great piece of the fabric of Ontario that that’s going to be very important as well. And then I think also, and actually I think we have an opportunity to raise our profile nationally in terms of our presence and our profile too, and I think that success will also be as we just turn our minds more for advocacy for post-pandemic, I guess benefaction from all three levels of government to we know that we still are under some challenges because we were hit quite significantly, our operations by not just the tuition rollback and freeze that the province had put in when they, when they assumed power, but also by the operations, the effect on our operations in our grants actually going forward too because of COVID. So successful will look like actually getting some fundin, hopefully from the province and from other sources. And I think it’s important to recognize that despite the fact there was a large announcement in the recent budget that universities got significant dollars that was did not go to the University of Guelph because we were actually, those dollars went to institutions that were actually under much more significant financial pressures than we were, in worse shape so the majority of universities were not eligible for those funds. Those were given to ones that actually were facing difficulty.

So that will certainly be very important as well, and I guess the doubling down on the international advocacy to make certain that we can actually have success there to be able to help our internationalization as well as our EDI strategies because that would be a very big part of it.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]

“Thanks very much, Daniel. Sharmilla, what does success look like for you?]

[Sharmilla Rasheed speaking]

“Thanks, President Yates. So just going to come from the heart. I’m hoping to see all of us employees or staff and faculty can wrap a ring around together, supporting each other through all of these anxiety, stress, mental health. So that we can hug each other from afar to get our campus together to support the students as they return to campus. I think that we need to reach out to each other. Have ideas, suggestions? Send me all of it for the plan so we could put it together so we can welcome our students back in September. As Malcolm said, that we don’t leave anyone behind. So I’m hoping that’s what success looks like that we can come together and support each other for that welcoming return.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much. Finally to you, Gwen.”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“My colleagues have certainly already identified a number of the things that I would say, I mean in terms of people’s the feeling of being supported, the feeling of coming together. I would say on the student side that we always pride ourselves in the exceptional student experience and the positive feedback we get from our students about their student experience and so in that way I think that success will be a continuation of our reputation for an excellent student experience for excellence in teaching and learning. You yourself mentioned some of the aspects of experiential learning and we know that we’ve maintained great co-op programs throughout the pandemic and I think success will look like the continued growth in our partnerships where students are getting that kind of experiential learning also hanging on to the things that work.

The pandemic, in terms of what we’ve learned about use of technology and kind of more of a seamless digital experience for our students, where we have the advantages of the face-to-face, which is crucial as well as that sort of – the students that we have now or what they call digital natives – they’re students who’ve been online all of their lives and I think that part of the student success in the future will be our ability to continue to meet them there.

I also think about faculty success, though, and Malcolm mentioned some of the aspects of being supported – equity, inclusion – because we know that the pandemic has not affected people equally, and so how can we provide the support so that people can successfully get back, get their career trajectory’s going and also feel supported in the challenges that they’ve been facing in their teaching as well. So those are some of the indicators I’d look for.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much. So, Sharmikla there’s been…there’s a question in the chat, but I have to say this is a question that has been asked of me when I do see people when they email me and this has to do with ventilation and buildings. It has to do with, there are some older buildings that can’t open windows. How are we handling the issue of ventilation which is proven to be so critical in the whole understanding of the transmission and keeping safe during COVID?”

[Sharmilla Rasheed speaking]
“OK, so I think think, Charlotte throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Physical Resources has followed public health information to assess in adapting ventilacion in all of the University of Guelph buildings. Outside air is being used to maximize where possible and the air handling systems of mean adjusted to run on a purge cycle at the end of each day. Occupancy sensors and carbon dioxide meters are monitoring and adjusting ventilation as needed. This is being done automatically. Each building has a unique air handling configuration based on the space and its use. So I know there are questions on the older buildings that probably do not have these sensors, so Physical Resources are work to
assess, but I only think there are possibly less than ten of those buildings, so we will be working with those individual leaders on those specific buildings.

About 150 of the buildings all have these air sensors that are being monitored and adjusted based on its needs. Some buildings – I know for sure the science building – has a fresh air circulation so those are not needed so we’re working through them. If there’s questions on any specific one building that you have concerns about, you can either reach out directly to Physical Resources through a work order or Melissa and we’ll work through those issuesfor the specific building.

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much. For another one for you, Sharmilla and it’s one that’s come across our path many times through other means and that has to do with how we’re going to accommodate parking if people do return for less than full time. Clearly if people are back full time, they would expect things to be similar, but if they’re back on a more part-time basis on the physical campus, are you looking – I’m not asking for commitment – but are you looking at the issueof parking?”

[Sharmilla Rasheed speaking]
“Absolutely. So right now, parking is free, so if you’re coming on campus right now, it’s free. We are looking to reinstate parking in the fall, and understanding that some people will be here in a cohort basis part-time two days a week, one day a week etc. We’re looking at flexible payment options that will be available to you to use.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much and I’m going to ask when – about graduation. Couple of interesting, and I think really important questions, and I’ve been thinking a lot about this as we’ve had virtual graduations. And I know we all miss the in-person graduation, but I think for the students in particular where I might have been to 100, this is your one. And so it’s a really important occassion. So the question is how are we handling graduation for those students who didn’t get a live graduation? Could we imagine doing something live for them at a future date in order that they can get together with their cohort? What are the discussions around graduation and I might ask Gwen, but also, Daniel, I know as well that you’re deeply involved in the planning of graduation.”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“Yeah, and then I’m you know happy to have Daniel comment as well, but my – certainly the conversations I’ve been involved in while we are again planning the virtual convocation for this June, the understanding is that we hope that, I think by June 2022 we will be having live convocation and that we will also offer the opportunity for special live convocation for students who did not, were not able to have that for them to come back to campus. But I think Daniel’s office is more directly involved, so I’ll let him build on that.”

[Daniel Atlin speaking]
“So yes, that’s correct when we are looking, we in all of our communications we’ve been committing to students who have graduated virtually that they will have the opportunity to come back to campus and cross the stage at a time when we’re able to do so, recognizing that that’s very important. I must commend the team though, in Ceremonies and Events that Claire Alexander in partnership with university partners and in her ability to actually create, I think a very exciting virtual convocation in a box as they called it – celebration. Actually each student can engage that way, but we also we do know that the in-person ceremony means so much to people as well, and that’ll be a memory for the rest of their lives.

And there also will be, though as we look through making decisions for this fall, that will likely be probably made more August-time but I, as Provost Chapman said, we are looking for next year to be able to hopefully resume in-persons. I should also say we also are doing a grad tour sort of thing where out through social media, were able to engage a lot of people to be able to talk about their experience. To be able to create some memories digitally as well, in the meantime, before they can actually have that cross the stage experience.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Let me see if I have one or two. I know we’re getting close to the end here. I do want to say there’s there was a question that I read and I try, I’m trying to scan all 190 of them and I really appreciate your engagement in this and this has to do with how will campus life change. And clearly we don’t have – someone this morning at a meeting I was in said “my crystal ball is very cloudy”.

And I think that it’s true. I think there will be more face-to-face. I’d be surprised if we, I think we’ll probably still be wearing masks indoors and many people are wearing masks outdoors. In fact, especially if depending on the circumstances, there will obviously we will also have learned some things about COVID.

Funnily enough, I always remember those graduations where we used to shake hands with myself and then President Vaccarino and at the end of the graduation he and I would always say, “OK, we’ve gotta run and wash our hands.” I think we will have learned some new public health and will need to maintain those. I think around the culture and around the restoration of that sense of community.

One of the things that’s driving me and I think many of us is how do we restore that sense of community, that sense of place? But it’s safe place, so I think there will be changes, but I’m I think it may be a little bit too early for us to answer that question. I’m going to ask Gwen one question around timing. There’s been a few questions around when we might expect to know has some of the academic decisions, kind of, you’re working through those with faculty, with chairs of departments, can you give us a sense of timing? Maybe not a specific date, but at least some evolution?”

[Gwen Chapman speaking]
“Sure, so I think one of the questions was around when will students know? And at this point the plans are that we will have course information available to students around June 21st. So around the third week in June and course selection, we hope will be able to start July 5th. Now, prior to that I would say over the next – we’re at the end of March – over the next eight weeks we will be very, you know, looking at building that schedule and monitoring the predictions. I mean particularly as you said around around physical distancing. But I think that we will have pretty clear information by June.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“Thanks very much, Gwen. And now I’m switching. You see, this is the problem. I’m switching to the dismissed, the new, the published, there’s just so many great questions I am going to, I am going to perhaps leave this at this point and begin to wrap up. So one of the comments made interestingly enough, is about how important this Q and A, and this type of communication is. Communication has been probably one of the most important and most difficult things to get right, as Daniel said.

Some people felt we’ve over communicated, yet we felt that as we got new information, we needed to share it. Similarly, particularly, there’s been a number of questions around vaccines, which we may not have answered. Like, for example, should you register? Absolutely. If you can register, of course, everyone 60 and over has been able to register with the Guelph Public Health in order to be on their list. I don’t know Sharmilla or Daniel if that’s been… that age group has gone down, but certainly they are already moving toward vaccinating that group now, so fairly soon they will be moving down. And so it’s reallhy important so we will continue to communicate so you do have that information and can take advantage of all the resources we have available for you at the university. But I do know that there are many questions we have been asked and there are some questions that weren’t directly related to COVID, but to other issues of safety on campus. We will be reviewing all of those questions. We will be reviewing all of those questions and as much as possible having an FAQ. If it’s not COVID-related, it may actually emerge somewhere else on the website because that kind of interaction is incredibly important.

But I do appreciate the comment that this kind of Q&A reduces people’s anxiety and it’s one of the reasons why, as we were planning this, I said to the executive “I think we need to do this regularly.” I think even though maybe you’ll get tired of us here have doing this, but I have a feeling that there are lots and lots of questions that we all have that aren’t answered. We have lots of just small questions which we don’t know where to pose them. By having these forum, you’re able to pose them because no matter how small or big the question, it’s an important question. Because if it is something that’s worrying you or causing you to pause, then we need to respond to it so that you feel reassured and so that. But it also gives us a lens into How you’re viewing the return to campus and the campus on a go-forward basis. So these events are very important to all of us, so we will be rescheduling, we will be scheduling, excuse me, another one.

I want to reiterate that we have, we will be publishing this on our website so that you are able or colleagues who weren’t able to join us are able to review it and see the question and answer. And I also want to end this, I don’t know, I take from the questions. There are a number of students, that there is one student who’s emailed who’s asked a question. That’s the only student who I can say is actually an international student anyway. And that’s the question around do they need to quarantine on campus? According to current federal regulations? Daniel, I believe that international students coming into campus do need to quarantine with campus. But if you could give us a very quick answer that would be helpful.”

[Daniel Atlin speaking]

“So we have that, yes, quarantine facilities on campus for international students who are who are coming in.”

[Charlotte Yates speaking]
“OK, so I do want to say, all of the students who joined us today, thank you. I want to also wish you luck. I know this time of year is last assignments, getting ready for exams. I have a son who’s doing a masters online and just the stress has been really difficult. It’s been a very difficult time to do everything on Zoom, Teams and so on. So, I do want to say look after your self, be well, and best of luck in your exams and assignments. And similarly, I want to say thank you to our faculty and staff as we reach the end of term. There’s always an incredible flurry of emails, queries, exams, makeup tests, assignments to mark. I know this is a busy time of year and I do appreciate that and I do hope that as we have some, if we have some decent weather over this long weekend, you’re able to enjoy it a little bit. And I promise you that we’ll be in touch.

And as you can always reach out to me, I try as much as possible to respond to all emails that come in, sometimes in a more timely and wrist time than others, but certainly trying to be as responsive as possible. And if you have further feedback, please feel free, in addition to us answering your questions on our website, please feel free to email myself or Kim McCaughan, Audrey Jamal and of course we have our new member of staff Krisha, who will be able and willing to support you as we go forward.

So on that note, I want to say thank you all for joining us. Have a lovely long weekend. I do think the weather is supposed to be nice and that seems to be the thing most to look forward to these days is to be able to get out for a walk and enjoy the sunshine. So we’ll be back in touch. Thank you very much for joining us bye-bye.”