The following email was sent to staff by Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Berenson on February 9, 2016.
Dear Staff Members,
I want to update and clarify information about staff and student workers’ participation in this year’s Community Day of Learning (CDL) in response to questions that have been asked. At last week’s senior staff meeting, the following guidelines were affirmed. These are imperfect and have some inequities, but represent our best attempt to achieve multiple goals.
- Offices will be closed and classes will be cancelled between 9 am – 3:30 pm. Those whose ordinary work hours begin before 9 or continue after 3:30 are expected to work those hours.
- Participation in the CDL is not mandatory, but is strongly encouraged. If a staff member does not wish to participate, they may wish to consider taking a vacation/ personal day. If they do not exercise that option, they may choose to work but should be aware that their work will be impacted by offices being closed. The CDL is a paid professional development opportunity that does not require travel or other inconveniences. The community meeting in November and the difficult experiences recounted by students make clear that we have work to do as a community to live up to our ideals.
- Student workers whose work is not tied to specific hours on 2/23 should be asked to reschedule their work hours. Students whose work is scheduled for those hours but whose offices will be closed (e.g. Canaday) will be paid but will not work. We ask that departments that provide essential services (e.g. Dining Services) who employ students try to modify schedules so that student employees can attend as much of the CDL as possible while still getting essential work done.
Please feel free to contact me if you have remaining questions.