[UA] COVID-19 Updates

Sun Jun 21 19:55:20 EDT 2020

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Hello all!

I hope everybody had a restful Juneteenth weekend full of celebration and deep reflection. On the UA side, we really enjoyed seeing your faces at the Juneteenth Weekend Brunch yesterday and we look forward to this becoming a tradition!

We have a couple of important COVID-19 updates. President Reif recently sent an email outlining some initial decisions about the Fall, yet there remains a waterfall of questions and many decisions to be made. As the undergraduate student government, we have the power to shape many of these decisions. We need your help, so that we can best represent you.

1. Survey

The UA Committee on COVID-19 has compiled a survey<https://mit.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8djjN5n8eZM4gIZ> to gauge undergraduate input on the following:

  *   Academics (available for 2021s, 2022s, and 2023s): This section focuses on your preferences for grading, exam proctoring/honor code, and remote learning conditions based on the previous semester.
  *   Decision Timeline: This section focuses on the preferred timeline of decisions and the time you would like to have between hearing Fall 2020 decisions from administration and requiring confirmation of your plans for the upcoming semester.
  *   Residential Life: This section focuses on your preferences for housing (dorms, FSILG, off-campus apartments, etc.), safety rules implementation, and student pods.
  *   International Students: This section is specific to the concerns of international students.

Note that you may choose the sections you would like to respond to. If you run into any issues with the survey, please email ua-covid19-surveys at mit.edu<mailto:ua-covid19-surveys at mit.edu>.

The UA will be using the results from this survey to help guide us in our advocacy and policy recommendations to the administration. Alongside DormCon and FSILG leadership, we interface heavily with the administration, faculty, and staff that will be making many of these decisions, so we encourage you to take the time to voice your thoughts and opinions.

2. Community Hours

Starting this week, the UA Committee on COVID-19 will be hosting Community Hours<https://www.facebook.com/events/772102096941280/>. Every Wednesday from 7-8PM ET and Saturday from 1-2PM ET, we will be open for community discussion about MIT’s COVID-19 response at this Zoom<https://mit.zoom.us/j/93501423492>. Please don’t hesitate to come with your thoughts, ideas, and concerns, or even just to say hi!

To kick off our Community Hours, we will be having a UA Committee on COVID-19 Zoom Marathon Week for you to meet our subcommittees and to voice your thoughts on the reports we are currently working on.

Senior Class Council, the First-Generation and/or Low Income Coalition (CASE, FGP, and Questbridge), and Burton Conner have hosted or will also be hosting town halls to inform their specific COVID-19 reports to administration so if you want to contribute and voice your ideas and concerns, we encourage you to attend! Please find details and a timeline for all of these events on the attached graphic.

[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rjhuZs_OILbh2eycyc5Eu3Ly4dekGryJ_108jZ-WvNEtE-quOrm8UVWbFIFaSlkEC53x_9V_OQwJkrUWgKNg5hB1BOT1iNOktPhXur1YuiRTcNXF3VyEkikuDNAiZdnN2mvGOkoo]

  *   Note that the Senior Class Council has already held their town hall but know that you can always reach out to them with additional ideas and thoughts.
  *   First-Generation and/or Low Income COVID-19 Community Conversations: Tuesday at this link<https://mit.zoom.us/j/95559325153>
  *   All other Community Hours: this link<https://mit.zoom.us/j/93501423492>

Add our Google Calendar<https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=ZnZiZnNjbnJ0M3BlZHMxZmtpN3M5NDBoNjhAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ> to stay up to date with our latest events and Institute-wide engagement opportunities! We’d love to hear your voices, please come through :)

3. UA Committee on COVID-19 Updates

Attached, you can find a PDF of the UA Committee on COVID-19 structure and subcommittee descriptions, as well as the best mode of contact if you want to get more involved.

We are currently working on two reports:

  1.  Privacy Report: Focuses on data privacy and surveillance concerns of public health measures like contact tracing
  2.  Preferred Timeline for Fall Decisions Report: Focuses on student timeline priorities in terms of the Fall decisions (grading policy, housing commitment, etc.)

In the coming weeks, we plan on creating reports surrounding compliance, the grading policy, and the emergency housing process, among other topics. We’d also love it if you would like to submit brainstorming discussion feedback as individual communities through formalized COVID-19 Community Discussions<http://ua.mit.edu/resources-documents>. More details of what this looks like in the attached PDF.

All in all, if you have any report ideas, or thoughts on these topics or about MIT’s COVID-19 response in general, please feel free to let us know through:

  *   Our survey<https://mit.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8djjN5n8eZM4gIZ>
  *   Our weekly Community Hours  <https://mit.zoom.us/j/93501423492>
  *   Our anonymous Feedback Form<http://ua.mit.edu/covid19-feedback>
  *   Submitting COVID-19 Community Discussion notes<https://forms.gle/H8QbVQKRPCjcWX4PA>
  *   Emailing ua-covid19 at mit.edu<mailto:ua-covid19 at mit.edu>

Watch out for more opportunities for community engagement as the weeks go on. We want to hear from you.

To keep up with our latest updates, sign up to our new mailing list here<https://forms.gle/4EBriDnXrF7DU96b7> for newsletter updates about what the Committee is up to. Don’t forget to follow our Instagram (@ua.covid19), Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/mit.ua.covid19/?epa=SEARCH_BOX>, and check out our website<http://ua.mit.edu/committee-description> while you’re at it!

Phew, that was quite the email. We hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy. And of course, have a great rest of Pride Month!

Best,
Yu Jing Chen
Vice President of the Undergraduate Association

~~
Full Zoom Invites:

UA Committee on COVID-19 Community Hours:

Topic: UA Committee on COVID-19 Community Hours
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime
Join Zoom Meeting
https://mit.zoom.us/j/93501423492
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,93501423492# US (New York)
+16699006833,,93501423492# US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 935 0142 3492
US : +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
International Numbers: https://mit.zoom.us/u/acLepp39gu
Join by SIP
93501423492 at zoomcrc.com<mailto:93501423492 at zoomcrc.com>
Join by Skype for Business
https://mit.zoom.us/skype/93501423492

Tuesday First-Generation and/or Low Income (FLI) Community Conversation:
Topic: FLI Community Conversations: FLI Feedback for Fall Decisions
Time: Jun 23, 2020 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://mit.zoom.us/j/95559325153
One tap mobile
+16465588656,,95559325153# US (New York)
+16699006833,,95559325153# US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 955 5932 5153
US : +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
International Numbers: https://mit.zoom.us/u/ar0lg4jq9
Join by SIP
95559325153 at zoomcrc.com<mailto:95559325153 at zoomcrc.com>
Join by Skype for Business
https://mit.zoom.us/skype/95559325153

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