Dear Colleagues,

    Please be reminded that we have a short Chapter meeting scheduled for tomorrow/Monday at 11 AM on zoom.  Here is the link, full zoom details at the end. We have top experts from John Jay’s Reopening Committee, PSC negotiators and union Watchdogs on the state of reopening; a brief account what members should be prepared for on the first day of classes; and a Q & A for your comments and questions.  Please join us!

    The John Jay chapter is issuing a letter to the chancellor and our own administration on the situation, calling for flexibility and a John Jay version of a safe reopening, authorizing those concerned with conditions on campus to implement their own ‘soft return’ to campus.  You can find and sign onto the letter here. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/psc-john-jay-safe-reopening

    We also want to acknowledge here the statement issued last week by the Faculty Senate executive committee calling for a postponement of the campus reopening.  If you haven’t seen it, you can read it here below, in green. We certainly endorse this statement.

See you tomorrow,

John & Zabby

p.s. Once you have signed and shared our John Jay letter to the Chancellor, amplify a similar CUNY wide petition “Delay CUNY Reopening” https://www.change.org/p/cuny-chancellor-f%C3%A9lix-matos-rodr%C3%ADguez-executive-vice-chancellor-h%C3%A9ctor-batista-delay-cuny-reopening?signed=true

Announcement shared Friday morning, 8/20/21

Faculty:

The Faculty Senate met yesterday and the Senate Executive Committee adopted this resolution in accordance with the views of the Senators attending. We are sending this to the Chancellor, because implementing these recommendations is partially or completely under the Chancellor’s control. We are also sending this to our college administration.

Ned Benton, Senate President

Karen Kaplowitz, Senate Vice President

Francis Sheehan, Mickey Melendez, Erica King-Toler, Heath Grant, Executive Committee

RESOLUTION OF THE FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Whereas, the Faculty Senate held a special meeting on August 19, 2021 to discuss the schedule for reopening as it relates to classroom-based instruction, and as it relates to mask requirements;

Whereas, the Chancellor has communicated to the students that that unvaccinated students will have a maximum of 45 days from the date of the FDA approval to get fully vaccinated and upload verification documents to CUNYfirst;

Whereas, reported COVID-19 cases in New York County continue to rise;

Whereas, the Chancellor has announced that, in a classroom, if a vaccinated professor is teaching a class and is able to keep social distance from everyone else in the class, he or she may choose not to wear a mask;

Whereas, the College reopening plan proposed a stronger mask policy that did not provide for the exception announced by the Chancellor.

Therefore, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate, acting during the summer to convey the sense of the Faculty Senate, resolves that:

• For Fall 2021, all instruction should be conducted online until 45 days following the date of FDA approval of a COVID vaccine, when the CUNY mandatory vaccination policy, as described by the Chancellor in an email to all students, takes effect, and
• For Fall 2021, John Jay College should enforce a no-exception mask mandate for all persons within our campus facilities.

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