Dear colleagues,
Next week, we begin our employee phased-return to campus. While we are eager to reunite with our friends and colleagues face-to-face, we cannot underestimate the continuing health threat posed by COVID-19. Guidance from public health professionals and local and state regulations continue to inform our decisions. Striving together, maintaining a positive and agile spirit, and putting the needs of one another before our own, Concordia will achieve a safe, Uncommon Return.
This email contains important information about your return to campus. Read it carefully and discuss questions with your supervisor/Vice President.
Additionally, attached to this email is an important Return to On-Campus Work Checklist. Please review and use it. All of us will also adhere to the following:
- Continue to comply with Concordia University’s COVID-19 preparedness and response plan (Uncommon Return). This plan is frequently updated as new information is made available and informed decisions are made. We will continue to communicate with you.
- Observe and encourage other employees, students, and campus visitors to comply with all protocols and procedures.
- In the event that you observe an unsafe working condition (as related to our COVID-19 control strategies) that you are unable to rectify, you should notify your immediate supervisor.
- If your supervisor is not present on campus, contact HR.
- If neither your supervisor or HR can be contacted, contact Campus Safety.
- When you notify your supervisor, the supervisor will:
- Attempt to rectify the unsafe working condition.
- Notify HR about the unsafe working condition and the resolution, if any, of the reported unsafe working condition.
- Employees who use public transportation should use personal protective equipment and hand sanitizer.
- We will continue to use Zoom for all face-to-face meetings.
- Continuously self-screen for COVID-19. If you begin to show symptoms, notify your supervisor and leave work immediately. Limit contact with other individuals on campus and contact your healthcare provider for further guidance.
We know that the fall will bring new challenges as we continue to deal with this pandemic. Even more than the protocols and procedures, I invite you to join me in embracing a spirit of cooperation and service. These protocols have been carefully crafted. We know that not everyone will agree on the need for these preventative measures. However, what we can and must agree on is our commitment to put the needs of others before ourselves. Our community is varied and diverse, with a multitude of needs and concerns. Striving together, we each can do our own part to make our beloved Concordia community a safe and healthy environment.
More than saying, “we are in this together,” let’s embrace what it means to be a Concordian, we are -- in fact and practice -- hearts together, united in service to each other out of our shared love as Christian brothers and sisters.
I am eager to see you all again, very soon on campus.
Rev. Patrick T. Ferry, Ph.D.