Transcript: Student Info Session

Student Information Session


July 10, 2020


(Note: This transcript starts at the fifteen-minute mark; technical difficulties prevented us from transcribing the opening remarks. You can watch the video HERE).

[Sean Marsh]
00:00:15.000 –> 00:00:36.000
Next, we have Sharon Jones, vice chancellor for academic affairs. Sharon is responsible for leading programs for premajor students at all five schools. They are Business, Educational Studies, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, STEM and Nursing & Health Studies.

Next is Gowri Shankar, interim vice chair of plan administration and professor at the school of business. Gowri over sees the planning, campus facilities, space planning, governmental and community relations, information technology and human resources.

Gowri serves as a member of the chancellor’s executive team.

Our next panelist is Tim Wilson. Tim is Dean of the division of student affairs. Tim over sees the offices that fosters student engagement and personal and professional development. This includes, student engagement AKTS activities, transition programs, residential life, student conduct, career services, disability resources, the counseling center and the diversity student.

Tim serves as a member of the executive team.

Now, our final panelist, Wolf Yeigh is Chancellor of UW Bothell. Wolf is focused on expanding access to a quality education and on supporting achievement among students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community. It is my pleasure to introduce Chancellor Wolf Yeigh.

[Wolf Yeigh]
00:02:11.000 –> 00:02:27.000
Good morning! Thanks, Sean, welcome everyone! Thank you for joining us this morning. This is a community based on strong shared values. We’re all here to provide you with an educational experience, rooted in academic excellence, interdisciplinary and a value on diversity and equity.

Since we have a quarter system, our classes start roughly a month later than many schools on a semester system. That means we have a bit more time to refine our in person and remote teaching plans and prepare our campus for you.

The autumn quarter may not unfold the way we have imagined before the pandemic. It was definitely not what we originally planned. We have learned from the experience of the spring quarter and are using this summer to prepare for the start of another academic year. A year we know will be filled with, again, with new ideas, discoveries and connections.

Alongside the excellent instruction that you should always expect from our faculty and teaching staff, you will continually have access to services that help you make the most of your Husky experience!

Academic advising, career services, disability resources, academic learning center, and the student success center will be available both in person, and also remotely for you.

Other forms of academic support and connected learning and opportunities such as undergraduate research, community engagement, and the Makerspace will also be available to you.

Your faculty mentors are continuing to learn more about how to best reach and engage you and your fellow students in this new space.

We are offering a variety of resources for them to expand their knowledge and practice a remote instruction. And they are responding and showing up to learn so that they can serve you better.

Our staff is also participating in healthy and safe learner training. They are also learning new ways to do their jobs. Always keeping in mind your needs and our shared to make your time here successful and rich.

I wanted to again, welcome all of you to the UW family. My leadership team is here today to answer your questions. We really appreciate you taking the time to joining us this morning. So Sean?

[Sean Marsh]
00:04:43.000 –> 00:04:51.000
Thank you, chancellor, now it’s time to answer questions. I will tell you we’re getting a lot of great questions in the Q and A. They will be answered and uploaded.

If we don’t get to all of them, they will be answered and uploaded on the website so let’s get started.

Gowri, the first question is for you. What steps is UW taking to protect everyone’s health and safety on campus?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:05:32.000 –> 00:05:47.000
Gowri: Sean, thank you for the question and thanks to everybody who is here. As you know, safety has always been a priority for UW Bothell, keeping our community safe and more so in the time of the pandemic.

Lucky for us, we do have the best resources in the world with UW Medicine. As you know, we are leaders and our Institute of Health Metrics has been doing a lot of work.

The benefit of having that expertise is we do have the best guidance in the world in how to keep people safe and working with the environmental and safety office, we have protocols on how to keep our employees, staff and everybody who comes on campus, to make it as safe as we can.

This includes a requirement that everyone who comes on campus wears a mask and follows appropriate social distancing. We will have guidance for people who walk in so that they do these kinds of things.

We will have training that will be made available to all employees, faculty and staff so that they understand what needs to be done.

We will have sanitation supplies in all of the appropriate places so we are following the protocols that have been laid down and their protocols are based on some of the best practices that we have in the world.

[Sean Marsh]
00:07:00.000 –> 00:07:07.000
Thank you, Gowri! I’m going to stay, I promise I won’t direct all of the questions at you, Gowri, this one is right in line with your answer there.

This question is, when on campus, will I be required to stay six feet away from other people?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:07:20.000 –> 00:07:29.000
Gowri: Yes! So when you’re on campus, you will have to observe the marked spaces we will have, for example, spaces where you can enter a building or where you can leave a building.

We will also have spaces in our stair ways which says you can go one way up and one way down.

If you’re ever in a queue, it says that you need to be six feet apart, just like you see in public spaces now.

All of our furniture will be placed at least six feet apart so people who are in close spaces will have the minimum distance that is required.

We will also require that everybody who comes on campus wear a mask so those are all of the safety precautions we have. There’s a much longer list but I will spare you the list. The big picture is that safety is important to us and we’ll provide the best medical practice based on state and public health guidance.

[Sean Marsh]
00:08:20.000 –> 00:08:32.000
Thank you, Gowri! One quick thing, you mentioned EH and S. Can you tell our guests what that stands for?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:08:32.000 –> 00:08:47.000
Gowri: It’s the environmental health and safety office which is a part of the University of Washington and their job is to collect the best possible advice and to distribute that advice.

They also act as the reporting officers to ensure that the plans are being followed and if there are out breaks of COVID-19, they are the ones who coordinate the testing and the tracing protocols.

So there really are a one stop shop for anything to do with the current pandemic and the issues that arise from that.

[Sean Marsh]
00:09:06.000 –> 00:09:20.000
Wonderful, thank you, Gowri! Sharon, the next question is for you. It reads, is autumn quarter going to be all virtual like spring quarter was?

[Sharon Jones]
00:09:20.000 –> 00:09:38.000
Sharon: Thanks, Sean! As you know, we have classes right now during the summer session but we’re eagerly looking forward to the classes starting as schedule on September 30th.

The announcement that came out a couple of weeks ago, said we’re going to be in a hybrid mode that means that most of our classes are taught remotely to make sure we can stay six feet apart and those types of considerations.

We will offer several courses in-person because of the need that the faculty has identified. These are critical courses in terms of labs, clinicals, practicums and some other courses that faculty have identified are important to be offered in person.

Now most of the courses will be remote. When you think of the spring quarter compared to the autumn quarter, there are some differences. In the spring quarter, we were under a stay at home order from the governor.

While the campus was never closed, physically, we did not have people on the physical campus. So all, practically all of our services were offered remotely.

I’m anticipating that we’ll be in a safe start phase three under the governor’s orders. What we’re anticipating is if we can offer some courses in-person, as I mentioned, we will also be able to offer some services in- person.

The chancellor laid out a number of those services including some of the key things like, first premajor advising, career services, tutoring services in the academic learning center.

I will ensure that most of you will be studying remotely, all of these services will also be offered remotely. We’ll have a combination which is why we refer to this as a hybrid approach. I hope that helps folks to understand what to expect coming back to classes in the autumn quarter.

[Sean Marsh]
00:11:29.000 –> 00:11:31.000
I think that’s really helpful! I have a related question to this. I’m going to build on that answer. This question reads: Will there be options for students who don’t want to do any in person classes, can I switch class types during the quarter? So two parts to that.

[Sharon Jones]
00:11:42.000 –> 00:11:58.000
Thanks, Sean! Since most of the courses are going to be offered remotely, it should be relatively easy for a student to create a schedule that is all remote if that’s what they refer.

In any event, even with the in-person classes that we’re offering, all faculty have been asked to be as flexible as possible. It may be that a student starts off and is able to come in person but may find that certain circumstances prevent them from coming in person during the quarter.

Faculty has been asked to be as flexible as possible with all of these student needs just as they were at the end of the winter quarter and of course, throughout the spring quarter.

The second part of the question has to do with switching courses. We have always had the opportunity for students to switch courses during the regular add/drop period. So that’s an opportunity for you to try out a class, see if this works for you, to add and drop.

I think with all of those situations, you want to be in close communication with your academic advisers and because they are the ones who be able to guide you in terms of the best option.

There shouldn’t be a problem for any student to complete the quarter completely remotely.

[Sean Marsh]
00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:58.000
Great, thank you so much, Sharon! Next question is for Tim Wilson. Tim, the question reads, what activities and spaces will be available on campus in autumn quarter and there’s two parts to this.

Will I be able to meet people? Will there be any events?

[Tim Wilson]
00:13:09.000 –> 00:13:27.000
So great question, thank you very much. Yes, you can meet people, although it may not always be in person.

Gathering places, the Veteran Resource Center and other facilities are being prepared if in person services as well as other meetings. A lot of our programs and services offered by the division of student affairs will be continue today be offered remotely.

We’re going to be welcoming students back to residential campus housing and our activities or recreational center will be open when it’s safe to do so.

And we’re going to depend upon the guidance offered by public health officials in September throughout the fall.

And I can’t say it enough. We are really going to base all of our decisions on the state’s safe start process including the recent guidelines offered by the governor for colleges and universities in the state of Washington.

[Sean Marsh]
00:14:33.000 –> 00:15:00.000
Thank you, Tim! I’m going to add one here for you. I think you touched on it but let’s sort of say it’s a good question. Can I come to campus to study, even if all of my classes are remote? And can I take my online classes on campus?

[Tim Wilson]
00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:13.000
So in a word, yes. We are working on creating some informal study spaces to be made available on campus with the appropriate safeguards. We’re still looking at the possibility of having spaces where students who have an online class, right before or right after an in-person class, can participate in Zoom decisions and that will help address possible travel and time issues.

If we can find any space for this, people need to be aware that it would be extremely limited. So we want to be able to have large numbers of people being able to take advantage of these study spaces again, if we’re able to do so.

[Sean Marsh]
00:15:20.000 –> 00:15:27.000
Thank you so much, Tim.

Gowri, that leads to another question. Can I check out laptops and other equipment? What tech support will you provide?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:15:50.000 –> 00:16:12.000
Gowri: Sean, yes, as you know. We have a fantastic IT information technology department that has gone out of the way to acquire new laptops so that we can loan them out to students so there’s a very robust lending program for laptops and other equipment that students may need.

In terms of other technology, they have allowed students to do remote access our lab computers so there’s some specialized software there but if it’s fully available on campus but students have been able to remote access that and basically going from home and logging into the lab computers.

We are making Zoom available free to everybody. So you can get the official version of Zoom which is with time, you can set up sessions with your classmates and with your faculty and staff advisers.

And communicate with them, just like we’re communicating right now. So we do have, some of the best technology, the best support we can get in both these areas. That is something that I am really proud of and we can continue to do more of that.

[Sean Marsh]
00:16:54.000 –> 00:17:12.000
Thank you, Gowri. This brings up another, what I know is a really important question that came to us. Will parking be free? And will busses be running to and from campus?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:17:12.000 –> 00:17:24.000
>> So parking will not be free for the reason that parking is a self-sustaining enterprise. So the state funds, which is the institutional state dollars should only be used for educating students.

So everything else, parking, food services, all of these things have to pay for themselves. So our parking has to pay for itself. As a result of that, we will be charging for parking.

We do have parking in the garages that are really expensive to build. We are opening a new garage just in time for fall which is going to take 600 cars. It’s an expensive garage and we have to pay for it and the way we pay is parking revenue so parking will not be free.

The second part was?

[Sean Marsh]
00:17:52.000 –> 00:18:07.000
Sorry, actually, oh, busses, I’m sorry, Gowri,

[Gowri Shankar]
00:18:07.000 –> 00:18:12.000
>> Yes, there will be transit. The transit services will continue. We’re not sure how often it will come and it will depend on demand, but yes, you can take the bus right through campus.

The actual bus schedule will depend on what happens in the fall quarter.

[Sean Marsh]
00:18:35.000 –> 00:19:03.000
I’m going to stay with you, Gowri. Another very health conscious question is, will hand sanitizer be available and — you talked about this. So I’m just repeating. I’m just rereading the question. Will it be required to use a mask and will UW provide the mask? I know you touched on it. So hand sanitizer and mask.

[Gowri Shankar]
00:19:03.000 –> 00:19:19.000
So the hand sanitizer, we have supplies of hand sanitizers inside of the class rooms, in hallways and public spaces. We probably have hand sanitizer, I would say, within ten or fifteen feet of almost every place you can think of. We will have plenty of that. We have a lot of supplies available. As you know, that was a problem getting sanitizer but we were able to acquire a lot of supplies so we are doing well on that count.

In terms of masks, we are encouraging people to use reusable masks just like the ones we were just wearing. There will be single use masks available to students which they can use if they forget to bring their own.

We will be making making masks available to all of our employees, all of our faculty and staff.

So masking is a requirement. It’s a requirement from UW guidance. It’s a requirement by the state. So we will ensure that everybody who is in an in door space, wear a mask.

If you’re in an out door space, if you expect to be within six feet of someone else, we expect you are wearing a mask. So masking is the best defense we have for preventing the spread of this disease.

[Sean Marsh]
00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:12.000
Thank you, so much, Gowri. Sharon, the next question is for you. Of course, students are wondering, will the library be open?

[Sharon Jones]
00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:35.000
Thanks, Sean! Yes, that’s a very good question. As you know, and so our audience knows, we are fortunate to be a part of a world class University library system.

That spans across the three campuses. We’re all sharing our library with another college which is also housed on our campus. That library system, which is a vast system, they have been engaged with planning how to combat the safe mode,once we’re able to enter the phase three of the safe start guidance.

Some of you may know, that almost all of our library services were offered remotely during the spring and will be remote during the summer session.

The challenge of course, is if you need physical materials for the library. So given that in phase two, the libraries around us will start to engage for pick up of library materials. Our library staff has prioritized looking at how to provide that additional service that will compliment the remote situation.

Now, when we’re talking about the autumn quarter and we’re talking about classes, some classes on campus and some students on campus, that again assumes a safe start phase three.

If we start phase three, the libraries are in the process of planning how to open up informal learning spaces that students and others can take advantage of. I do have to caution that it’s somewhat similar to what Tim said and building on what Garry said in terms of the safety precautions with the six feet distance between people, et cetera.

What is most likely going to happen is only a portion of the library that would be open for an informal learning space because it’s impossible to create that safe situation through the entirety of the library.

So while we expect that there will be some informal learning spaces available, it will not be to the same extent as what we had before COVID-19.

We don’t expect to have curb side or some other form of access for physical materials and of course, all of our other library services will be offered remotely.

[Sean Marsh]
00:22:32.000 –> 00:22:54.000
Thank you, Sharon!

I am going to go to Tim next. Students are wondering, will UW have food and coffee for sale on campus and if someone needs food assistance, will husky pantry open. Some may not know what the husky is, but a brief explanation.

[Tim Wilson]
00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:18.000
So let me take the last part first. The husky pantry was developed and designed by students and is operated a couple of locations on campus.

It’s really to assist with food insecurity. Unfortunately, there’s some students out there for whom food is not a given. So we do the best we can by giving free food

items like soups, ramen, other types of food, items that students can just grab and go.

If they’re able to fill their stomachs, then they’re better able to learn. So we have two locations for the food pantry. They will be open.

In regards to the first part of the question, at this time, we know we can offer extended vending options but we’re still investigating what we can do on campus in regards to food trucks and other things because there’s a lot of state restrictions now with food trucks and cafes and restaurants.

We do know that, we have restaurants a short distance away at the crossing. It’s just a mile to downtown for restaurants and things of that nature there. But again, depending upon the restrictions that have been levied by state health officials, we just can’t completely answer whether or not we’ll have the food truck option on campus.

[Sean Marsh]
00:24:31.000 –> 00:24:45.000
Thank you, Tim! I know with working with the chamber of commerce and the city, that those restaurants and the city are working really hard to make sure they have safe spaces for people to be able to get food so thank you for that answer.

I am going to jump to Gowri again. Gowri, one question I know we have heard a lot and it’s not an easy question is, do online classes cost the same as in person classes and if so, why?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:53.000
I can give you a really long answer for that.

[Sean Marsh]
00:24:53.000 –> 00:25:06.000
>> Short one.

[Gowri Shankar]
00:25:06.000 –> 00:25:26.000
In terms of finance, but the basic idea is, the student funds we have, the institution dollars, go to pay the faculty and staff.

Now, the same faculty that you saw last fall teaching you in class, the same world class faculty you saw teaching, will be teaching all of the online classes and they are doing an amazing job in preparing the best possible material they can to deliver online.

They will still have to be paid what the contract agreement is. Those costs are not going away.

Staff, again, great staff who help the students succeed, they are also working way beyond their expectations in trying to make the online, the remote learning experience as good as possible.

Again, those classes are not going to go away. So basically, our cost structure which is close to 90 to 92 percent of the salaries and compensation, that does not go away.

So our cost, if anything, actually, increased during our time because we are spending a lot more on resources, technology resources, on additional support.

For example, just keeping our campus safe, is costing us an upward, we’re estimating, close to a million dollars.

So all of these things have increased our cost of operations so really, we are not seeing any savings at all. They have been saving a little bit on — but that’s about it.


We’re still paying our water bills and all of our taxes, the services that we get. So given all that our costs have not come down, so that is a misconception that somehow teaching online is cheaper than teaching in person.

If anything, it’s probably a little bit more expensive. I think it’s for those reasons, we are not going to see any lowered costs.

[Sean Marsh]
00:27:14.000 –> 00:27:24.000
Thank you, Gowri, I know it’s complex question so thanks for keeping it short.

Students are wondering, in light of finances and issues related to finances during the pandemic, students are wondering, are there any campus jobs for students this fall?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:27:44.000 –> 00:28:03.000
Yes, that’s a good question. So as you know, campus jobs for students are available through various schools. The schools need students to help with the services, either the front desk or something like that. We have campus jobs available in housing, in dining.

Now, the availability of these jobs in the fall quarter will be different from what it was, when, like, let’s say last fall. But we expect these jobs will be available. We expect that the different departments and schools that hire students will continue to hire them.

It will be different though and you know, the best resource used to go to the employment pages that we run and look for things there.

Yes, short answer is yes, we will have them. They will be different but we expect students to continue to be employed on campus.

[Sean Marsh]
00:28:47.000 –> 00:28:52.000
Great! I’m going to stay with you. So even offices like mine, advance and external relations are offering jobs that may be online or virtual but, folks, students who have the ability to do videography, can look me up.

We’ll be employing students as well in some fashion.

[Gowri Shankar]
00:29:02.000 –> 00:29:06.000
I think that kind of points that we’re going to be looking for students, to help us with the new skills and be technologies and sometimes they are the best equipped to handle some of the newer technologies.

So we will continue to need them. We will continue to need them.

[Sean Marsh]
00:29:18.000 –> 00:29:32.000
I think you’re right, exactly! I’m going to stay with you one more here because it’s relevant. If I have extra expenses or lost income because of the pandemic, can I get additional financial aid?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:29:32.000 –> 00:29:48.000
So yes, you can file a revised financial aid request. The financial aid website will tell you how to do that. So if you know there’s a change in circumstances since you first applied for financial aid, you can.

You can get loans, additional loans. There are a few grants that are available, that are lower than the loans, but there are a few grants to made to meet the extra expenses you incurred.

You’ll have to go through, basically a process for applying and justify what you’re asking for and then depending on what’s available, decisions will be made.

[Sean Marsh]
00:30:04.000 –> 00:30:14.000
Thank you, Gowri and my background, he’s exactly right, my background was originally in financial aid.

So that revision request process can be done through your financial aid and that’s loss of income or additional expenses you may be having due to what is happening with the pandemic and be anything else.

He’s exactly right, make sure you reach out to your financial aid office so we can help you with those things. I am coming back to Sharon.

The question is, how will I be able to tell if my class is online or in person?

[Sharon Jones]
00:30:51.000 –> 00:31:04.000
Thanks, Sean. Finally an easy question! So students should go to the time schedule. There’s three time schedules.

There’s one for for each different place. Assuming you are taking them at Bothell, when you go to the course, you pull it up and look in the comment sections.

In the comments section, if the words have a period — offered via remote learning, that means that the class is offered one hundred percent online.

If there’s no phrase like that, it’s just blank, that means that the course is going to be offered in person.

Most likely, if it’s offered in person, that course will also list a room number and all of the courses will list a time, but it’s also a room number in the building. So you will know that course is physically in person.

Now, I will say even if your courses are offered fully remote, so it has that comment, offered by remote learning, which means one hundred percent remote delivery.

If the faculty members decide it’s beneficial to have a few very small group services on campus. If they’re going to do that, they are going to contact you directly, whatever, et cetera, once the class starts and let you know when you might be expected to go to campus.

Once again, the faculty knows that some students will not be able to come to campus for a variety of reasons and they’ll make accommodations for that.

[Sean Marsh]
00:32:35.000 –> 00:32:54.000
Great, thank you. I’m going to stay with you Sharon as students are wondering, what grading options are available and can I change a numerical grade to an S no S, satisfactory or non satisfactory.

[Sharon Jones]
00:32:54.000 –> 00:33:05.000
Great question! So the satisfactory, non satisfactory option has been around before COVID-19. A student has until, I believe, the 7th week of the quarter to request a switch, either from a S/NS to a numerical grade or the other way.

And they do that without the faculty member knowing. That’s a process through the registrar’s office.

Through that process, that option, it only applies to elective courses, not needed courses for your major. That’s how it was before the COVID-19 situation.

During the spring quarter and also for the current summer session that we’re in, these have been defined as extraordinary circumstances for these semesters. Also, because of the extraordinary circumstances, that grade option applied to all courses, even the courses that counted directly towards the major.

We don’t know yet, if the autumn quarter will be designated as an extraordinary circumstance quarter. That’s the decision that will be made across all three campuses. And we probably will know, closer to the start date, September 30th of the quarter or maybe even in the first couple of weeks.

We can make that information available. We have created a communications team, has created a specific website regarding learning remotely and what is going to happen during the autumn quarter and will continue to update that as we get new information.

So that is a place to keep checking to see what you have for the updated information. If a decision is made to go to extreme circumstances, your advisors will let you know and the registrar’s office will let you know. You will get that information directly.

[Sean Marsh]
00:35:03.000 –> 00:35:11.000
Thank you, Sharon! Okay, Tim, I know these are some questions that have just come in. We’re going to try to get to as many as we can. We have over 65 questions that are dropped in here. So we won’t get to all of them. We will try here.

I know you and your team have done a really great job of providing an on- campus atmosphere for students and students that live on campus.

So these questions are both in regards to housing. So the first one is, what is the housing situation going to look like for the autumn quarter? And when is move in for students?

>> So first question, what does the housing situation look like? One of the things we’re trying to do is identify the housing, our housing is all apartment based. In many aspects, you have two people who live in a room, in a two bedroom apartment. We’re trying to de-densify. We’re not having triples.

[Tim Wilson]
00:36:02.000 –> 00:36:15.000
You’ll have at least one roommate in the apartment. We are full. We have a waiting list of 100 odd students. There’s a number of students who want to come back in the fall.

In terms of the exact date of move in, I want to say it’s going to be the weekend before class starts. I believe classes start on the 30th. So the weekend before, that move in will take place.

I can tell you now, move in will be staggered and over several days. It will be by appointment.

Again, that’s to again, reduce the density of everybody trying to come in and move in at the same time. So we’re really taking precautions to make sure that move in is done officially and safe and as healthy in a manner as possible. Not just to the students and family but for the staff that help to manage movement in as well.

[Sean Marsh]
00:36:47.000 –> 00:36:57.000
Thanks, Tim! I’m going to piggy back on that one with another one.

What will student housing look like for returning students and will returning students be able to postpone moving in if all of their classes are offered remotely?

[Tim Wilson]
00:37:10.000 –> 00:37:23.000
Good question! You know, a lot of housing is really based on community. You have to connect and meet with people, formally and informally and things of that nature.

And with COVID-19, we’re having to do things very differently. So it’s not that you can’t interact with people but as Gowri said earlier, physical distancing is very important in helping us to flatten the curve.

So for example, throughout the spring, we were able to figure out ways to thread the needle between having contact with students and we would do it often remotely.

So a student’s residence assistant or resident director will check in via Zoom or over the phone.

If you had a package, the husky village desk, there’s certain hours in which you can come and get that. But a lot of things will be delivered right to the resident apartment.

Again, to reduce the number of contacts that people had with each other. You’re going to see a lot of people wearing masks. You will see a lot of the same physical distancing, you’ll see plexy glass. That’s to protect the residents and student staff to flatten the curve.

Remind me of the second part of the question.

[Sean Marsh]
00:38:28.000 –> 00:38:44.000
Will returning students postpone moving in if all of the classes are offered remotely?

[Tim Wilson]
00:38:44.000 –> 00:39:00.000
You know, in terms of finding out whether your classes are offered remotely, in postponing, I think it would be best to be in touch with housing directly. If a student gets their schedule and takes a look at it and says, wow, I’m all remote.

Does it make sense for me to live on campus? If a student decides before September, that it makes more sense for them to just stay at home or pursue other options, they can get out of their contract without penalty until September, okay?

But I also know there’s a variety of reasons as to why students choose housing. Some students choose it because of the proximity to campus. Like, Sharon said, assuming we’re in phase three, students will be able to access, somewhat in person, but mostly remotely, but somewhat in person, some of the student services that are out there.

So that is attractive for students. There’s some students who choose housing because of being able to interact with other people even if there is some physical distancing.

And I also know there’s some students who choose to live on campus because that’s the only way they’re going to be able to have a college education.

So we know there’s a variety of reasons as to why students choose it. So there’s still value even if we’re doing this in the era of COVID-19.

[Sean Marsh]
00:40:03.000 –> 00:40:18.000
Thank you, Tim! Sharon, I’m going to jump to you because this feels related to me. A question came in, can I take a quarter off and come this winter instead?

[Sharon Jones]
00:40:18.000 –> 00:40:26.000
So once you are admitted to the University of Washington, your initial and internal admissions will not change as a result of future leave of absence. You need to stay away for a certain period of time.

So the answer is yes, you can certainly take a quarter off, come back during a different quarter. This applies whether it’s autumn, winter, or spring.

The one thing you have to realize is, there’s a re-enrollment process. So it’s not like you can just decide not to enroll in classes in the autumn quarter and then enroll in classes in the next quarter.

You have to go through a re-enrollment process. It’s not admittance but it’s to make sure we have removed everything and you get the advising you need.

So yes, in those types of situations, you want to be in touch with your academic adviser, discuss the options and make sense it makes sense for you and understand the process so you can reenroll and not get — pulled out of classes and anything like that T.

[Sean Marsh]
00:41:14.000 –> 00:41:20.000>> Thank you, Sharon. Gowri, a question came in through our Q and A.

Will testing for COVID-19 be offered at UW Bothell?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:41:27.000 –> 00:41:43.000
That is a really good question. They are going to set up centers all over the city. And it’s likely they will set up something where there are students and faculty and staff can be easily accessed and tested.

Again, there’s so many things happening. I do not have a definite answer but that’s on the list of priorities that we have and we will have something in place by the time classes start.

[Sean Marsh]
00:42:05.000 –> 00:42:21.000
Thank you, Gowri. Let me look here. I have a lot of questions coming in. Let me stay with you Gowri.

It says, are there any facilities that will not be open at UW Bothell We anticipate that the athletic facilities and cafe will be open?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:42:35.000 –> 00:42:42.000
We have not made specific decisions yet. We are in the process of trying to figure it out. We have not made specific decisions on which particular dining facility will be open or not.

We hope to have more information closer to the time that we expect to open. Again, remember, this is all contingent of us getting to phase three and maintaining safe distance, safety protocols, et cetera.

Certainly, that’s one of the top considerations for us is to have food. So that’s something that we will announce closer to the opening.

[Sean Marsh]
00:43:14.000 –> 00:43:23.000
Okay. Yeah, I’ll stay with you. Will there be on — again, some of this, you might be repeating yourself a little bit but I want to make sure the questions are heard.

Will there be on campus study spaces and what is that going to look like as we maintain safety requirements?

[Gowri Shankar]
00:43:42.000 –> 00:43:54.000 Yes, we will have spaces on campus as informal study places. We will have, our vistas open. We will have our lobbies open. We will make sure that we will have appropriate distances between seating, for example.

So we might remove a lot of the seating that students who have been here, may have seen. There will be far fewer seats available. We will make sure there’s appropriate distances.

We are also thinking about adding additional spaces by, perhaps, using some of the class room space or the other common spaces that we have.

All of that great work is going on right now. You know, we do have a very busy space planning team that is looking at it, a facilities team looking at it, a custodial team is looking at how can we best provide custodial services. All of this cost money.

[Sean Marsh]
00:44:31.000 –> 00:44:39.000
I know you talked about this before, but will the ARC be open? I’ll let you answer.

[Gowri Shankar]
00:44:39.000 –> 00:44:45.000
So this is perhaps, a question that is more directed at Tim.

[Sean Marsh]
00:44:45.000 –> 00:44:59.000
Oh, okay. I can, Tim, do you want to take that one, I’m sorry, Gowri?

[Tim Wilson]
00:44:59.000 –> 00:45:16.000
I’m going to say, it depends on where we are as a state. If we’re in phase three, we’ll be able — at least, we’ll have the ability to open some of the ARC up.

But it will depend on what phase we’re in. If we are open, phase three, limits us to having 50 people in a space at a time. What you have to understand about the ARC is there’s a significant number of students that manage that facility.

And help run it from day to day. So we do have plans we have drawn out. I can see ARC from my office here, I can say on the over look, on the top floor, we have things laid out to what it would look like with physical distancing with tables and chairs and things of that nature.

So we could be ready for it but it depends on where we are with the state’s reopening process.

[Sean Marsh]
00:45:59.000 –> 00:46:14.000
Okay, thank you, Tim! I’m going to stay with you. You touched on this but there’s a specificity to the second part of this question I don’t know if we touched on. The question is, what about the dorms? How can students share rooms and cooking and bathing facilities and stay safe?

[Tim Wilson]
00:46:14.000 –> 00:46:30.000
So that’s a great question! I think one of the things that we encourage students to do is to really be vigilant about cleaning spaces and surfaces and making sure you wear masks.

If you’re sick, let us know. Because we have some spaces set aside, not a whole lot, but a few spaces set aside so if someone gets sick, we can move somebody to an isolation unit and they can start to recover, if they don’t want to start that process on campus.

They can also move elsewhere. That’s a great question! And again, that gets back to what we’re saying about de-densify. This can bring down the possibility of someone catching something.

And bringing it back in so a lot of this comes down to, following the protocols. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Eat right, get plenty of sleep.

If you’re sick, let somebody know, stay home.

[Sean Marsh]
00:47:19.000 –> 00:47:42.000
Okay. Thank you, Tim! Sharon, I have a question of questions that fall under your purview. As a freshman starting in the fall, what would my day to day experience be like? And then the second part is, won’t mostly online affect my transition to university learning and perhaps create problems in later semesters?

[Sharon Jones]
00:47:42.000 –> 00:47:55.000
That’s a great question coming in from a student. We have been thinking about this a lot. In particular for the students who have never been to UW Bothell.We want to make sure they’re able to adjust and acclimate. Those students should be engaged in their orientation process right now.

That’s a joint effort by the group that reports to student affairs and also the academic affairs staff that focuses on the first-year students and our premajor students.

In the orientation process, we did that recognizing we’re in the pandemic and facing a remote learning situation for many of the courses.

So as part of that, that team is trying very hard to engage students and start to develop community.

One of the biggest things in terms of starting a new environment, whether it’s a new job or new school or anything is establishing the peer network that is going to help you, just persist and succeed throughout your academic career.

That’s a big emphasis in the orientation program. The other part is meeting your faculty members and developing those types of relationships. As I believe several folks mentioned, the faculty has been engaged in, additional development in terms of teaching courses and environment so they can engage students more and build those relationships.

And I think that the experience, I actually, I know that the experience for the autumn quarter is going to be improved compared to the spring quarter in terms of the ability to engage students with students and students with faculty.

Is it going to be the same as if you were here in person? No, it’s not going to be the same. We’re doing everything that we can to try facilitate what is the most important part of getting new students to campus.

On a day to day basis, on campus, we have several first-year courses offered in person. We have to join the orientation process and you’ll have to register for courses and do that in conjunction with your premajor advisers.

You will see what this will look like but, even if you end up with a schedule with all courses, just know that — realize how important it is for you to engage with them and with each other.

They are designing activities within their courses and outside of their courses to facilitate it as much as possible.

So I know it’s not a complete answer but I do want you to feel confident, that’s what our faculty is very aware of and are trying very hard to do the absolute best they can with the student center.

[Sean Marsh]
00:50:39.000 –> 00:50:48.000
I think that’s a good answer, Sharon. I know that’s on one of the things that makes me proud to work UW is that’s a constant thought process that goes on with faculty, staff, and leadership to make sure we provide the best experience for students throughout their time here.

I’m going to stay with you because we’re getting a number of questions about exams. When we say remote, will exams be on site? Should I plan to be in Washington?

[Sharon Jones]
00:51:02.000 –> 00:51:15.000
If your class, remember, if you look at your schedule and in the comment sections, it says one hundred percent remote, then you should not expect to have any exams in person.

Unless there’s a particular need. So you might have an accommodation that requires you to take advantage of special testing facilities and of course, we will make — we will do everything we can to meet those accommodation needs.

But in general, if your course says it’s 100 percent online, you should expect it’s all online.

I do want to say about the exam question. What the faculty knows and has learned during the experience in spring quarter and for those who have been teaching in the environment for a long period of time.

Assessments are often different in the remote environment than it is in person. So as part of some of the active faculty development that is under way this stomacher, our faculty are learning about other ways to assess learning and assess the student’s unique learning outcomes for the particular course that are, perhaps, a little bit different than what you think of as a traditional exam or a traditional quiz.

So I think you will see that these courses are designed to be as fair as possible in terms of any types of assessment of learning.

It’s really an assessment of learning as oppose to thinking about it in terms of an exam or a quiz.

[Sean Marsh]
00:52:36.000 –> 00:52:39.000
Thank you, Sharon. Chancellor, I’m going to give you a chance to jump in. A few questions here about international students and I will read the question as it came in. There’s a new policy where international students must leave U.S. if they only have online classes in the fall.

Is the University of Washington doing anything about this?

[Wolf Yeigh]
00:52:53.000 –> 00:53:02.000
So I want to start off this response with the following: Our international students along with all of our students, you are an important and integral part of our community.

So everything that we do, we are going to put as much and all of the dedicated resources to helping all of you.

Now, that said, as many of you know, on July 6th, the federal government issued guidance about new immigration regulations affecting international students who are, or who plan to be studying in the United States.

Now, these regulations would require these students to enroll in at least one course that is not being taught entirely remotely. So some part of that has to be in person.

As Sharon mentioned, the current UW courses are being offered using a remote instruction format.

So basically, we’re completely surprised by the announcement and certainly we’re disappointed in the effect it would have on our students. Now, we want to be very supportive of everyone as Huskies. The changes are not yet final and there are a number of Universities that have filed a lawsuit against this new regulation.

Now, University of Washington, all three campuses are working with our state’s congressional delegation and federal officials to understand the modifications and also, we’re trying to influence the final rule on this.

We are actively working with our college to offer more courses with the face to face in person instruction format so that our international students can study in the U.S. on a valid visa.

Now, we will also send specific information about these options and what our students should do within the next two weeks.

In the meantime, we are asking our international students now, don’t contact our faculty members or advisers with questions yet because they don’t have that information.

As we’re developing these responses, and our actions appropriately. We’ll notify our international students as soon as we have the information, okay?

We know that this news was very unsettling for our international students as it was for us and you can be assured that we’ll develop a viable solution to allow them to continue their studies at UW so you can count us on that.

And also, remember switching completely online will depend on what safe start phase that our county, King County is in. If the county switches to phase two or even phase one, reverting back to phase one during the autumn quarter, we have to switch to completely online.

Again, we’re not there but we want you to, we want you to work to prepare everyone for what may happen downstream.

Also, please note that UW and other universities are actively, actively, advocating for federal government to reconsider the ruling given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic.

And I know this is a very uneasy, very difficult time but we’re devoting as much and all of our efforts on this so that we all, the University of Washington Huskies, we have a safe place that is collaborative and equitable learning space that we can continue to provide for all of our community.

Back to you Sean.

[Sean Marsh]
00:57:16.000 –> 00:57:23.000
All of the questions asked today, will be posted on the FAQ on the website by Monday. Chancellor, I will turn it over to you for the final words.


[Wolf Yeigh]
00:57:39.000 –> 00:57:49.000
Okay, got it! All right. So everyone, thanks for joining us today. You know, our community is strong because of you. This academic year will witness all of us working together in various fronts.

This COVID-19 crisis and its after math will continue to teach us how to work in different, more agile ways.

The calls for social changing how we think and examine the way in which we become better friends, better colleagues, better allies and better mentors.

This is really an opportunity to grow. That we stay, that we stay firm. We don’t shy away from these difficult challenges. And one thing that we all, here at UW, we’re expanding access to achieve excellence for you, your families, and our communities as a whole.

Again, all of you, thanks for being a part of UW Bothell and this discussion here today.

We really look forward to having all of you join this Husky family. Washington is great! And here at UW Bothell, we support you as you continue your journey.