Message to Faculty and Staff About Employees Age 65 and Older

Posted on March 16, 2020

The Chancellor's Office has asked that faculty in two groups who could be most affected by the COVID-19 refrain from coming to campus effective immediately. Those groups are those 65 and over and those with underlying medical conditions that could increase risk from the virus. Given this guidance from the Chancellor's Office, we are reaching out to faculty to notify you of this change in plans for the coming week for those two groups.

As you know, all faculty have been asked to prepare for a transition to virtual instruction. The campus has scheduled this Monday through Thursday as time to develop virtual course plans. If you are covered by this alert from the CO, you will not be able to attend the training nor benefit from the live support being offered by CFE this week to transition to virtual instruction. To assist faculty who cannot be on campus, CFE has offered to stream its trainings but Academic Affairs will work on other support as well for those who are affected by this guidance. Please contact me with any questions or needs around this subject so that I can provide you with access to sources or relay your concerns to CFE or other offices in a way that preserves your confidential information.

Your chairs and deans have been notified of the CO position and also will be notified that your communications about your status will go through Faculty Affairs as confidential personnel information that will not be shared.

To recap:

If you are 65 or older, you should not come to campus effective March 16th. You do not need to let your chair or dean know; they are already aware that some faculty may not be able to be on campus under the CO directive and have been asked to route any questions through Faculty Affairs.

If you have a medical condition on which the virus could have an impact, you should not come to campus effective March 16th. You will want to notify ADA compliance officer Kirsten Corey in HR. The information you give to the ADA office regarding the medical condition is not shared with anyone outside that office. Accommodations will be provided as determined by that office.

Training opportunities and any support needed will be offered through CFE. Any questions that you have about additional support should come through the Office of Faculty Affairs if you are covered by this CO guidance and want to preserve the
confidentiality of your information. Faculty Affairs will gather the information that you need and relay it to you as quickly as possible.

We wanted to let you know of the guidance this evening so that you are able to adjust your planning. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.

Marsha L. Baum
Associate Vice President,
Faculty Affairs California State University, Fresno