Return to Campus Letter #1 + Vaccine Forum on April 12
Return to Campus Letter #1
April 8, 2021
Dear Brooklyn College Community,
When we moved from in person to online classes and remote work more than a year ago, I wrote letters to the community on a regular basis, sharing plans and news in real time to let you know what was happening and to explain how it impacted our campus. Since we are now planning the gradual return to campus, I am taking up the pen again, in the hopes that these letters will help you understand our preparations for the fall and reassure you that your health and safety remain foremost in our minds.
We are going to call these the “Brooklyn College Reentry Letters,” and this is the first in that series. Today’s letter discusses the results of our informal survey on readiness to return, as well as risk in New York City and an opportunity to learn more about vaccines. Subsequent letters will focus on our work to prepare for the fall semester, including assessing and prioritizing classroom spaces, improving ventilation, revising our Reentry Plan, and designating fall classes as in person, hybrid, or online.
On March 23, we launched an informal survey about our readiness to return to campus. Obviously, we are not returning now, and access to the campus remains very limited, as it will throughout the summer. Nevertheless, we wanted to understand your perspectives and concerns as we plan for the future. The results indicate that 25% of survey respondents have already been vaccinated against COVID. Of those who have not yet been vaccinated, a majority plans to be vaccinated when they are eligible.
The survey suggests that staff, students, and faculty each feel mixed about the prospect of returning to College grounds next fall. On the one hand, many of us miss working and learning on our beautiful campus with our friends and colleagues, and we long to interact with others face-to-face. On the other hand, many of us remain fearful of the continued threat of the pandemic to the safety of both the campus itself and the public transportation we must take to get there.
For now, there is reason to remain concerned. The Centers for Disease Control rate New York City as posing an “extremely high risk of exposure” at this time. We hope that the City will become much safer over the summer as more people get vaccinated, but we must remain vigilant.
All three of the COVID vaccines available in the country are highly effective. Getting vaccinated against COVID is the best way to protect you and your loved ones from infection, hospitalization, and death. It is also a way for you to contribute to the safety of our campus community.
However, many students, staff and faculty members still have questions about the safety of the vaccines themselves. We want to provide you with a forum to ask those questions. The “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about COVID Vaccines” Forum will be held next Monday, April 12, 2021, at 4 p.m., and it will feature Dr. Scott Ratzan, Distinguished Lecturer at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives. Please register for the Brooklyn College forum on vaccines here. I encourage all students, staff, and faculty members who have questions or concerns about the COVID vaccines to attend. (Any staff member may attend, even if the forum is during your work hours.)
Be on the lookout for Reentry Letter #2, which I will issue next week. Stay safe, everyone!
Yours sincerely,
Michelle J. Anderson
President, Brooklyn College
