Dear colleagues,

‘Covid Reentry Anxiety.’ The phrase has entered the lexicon. It’s very real, and – after a year of living anxiously and separately – wholly understandable.   

On March 8, President Alan Davis informed the KPU community that, on the advice of Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry, the provincial government supports the ‘safe return to campus this fall.’ On one level, this is precisely what we’ve long hoped to hear. But we can’t deny the sharp dissonance between the present moment – marked by intensifying throes of the pandemic – and this projected Fall re-entry. It should come as no surprise that some of us have responded to the provincial announcement with anxiety, even fear.  

Please remember, ‘reentry’ will only go forward if it is safe. The provincial announcement is rooted in Dr. Henry’s stated conviction that ‘a return to in-person instruction can be done safely this fall.’ Return-to-campus safety protocols have been, and will continue to be, vetted by Workplace BC. The provincial announcement itself emphasizes safety. Indeed, the province has hitherto been quite risk-averse in its approach to the post-secondary sector and would be extremely unlikely to posit a return without ahigh confidence in the safety of the endeavour.   

Of course, we understand that what is deemed safe for the general population may not be the case for individuals with particular health conditions and circumstances.  

A key consideration relating to safety is the vaccine rollout. As you know, B.C. plans to have everyone receive their first jab by July and the entire vaccination program completed in the fall. For an argument that this makes a fall re-opening both prudent and necessary, see Alex Usher’s much-discussed analysis here .  

Second, we have no intention of ‘forcing’ people with safety concerns to teach in-person in Fall 2021. Diane Purvey has been emphatic that Fall 2021 will be a transitional semester in which experimentation with a wide array of ‘delivery’ models – from in-person, to various forms of hybridity, to wholly-online education – is encouraged. Let a thousand flowers bloom! When the President invokes the ‘New KPU,’ we may take the message in this spirit. (And no: there is no neoliberal plan to turn us into a fully online university…a concern which appears to be a surprising inversion of Reentry Anxiety).  

What’s ultimately at issue here, perhaps, is something which we’re no longer used to, after this dire year: good news. Dr. Bonnie Henry expects vaccinations to succeed and be completed this fall. The BC government expects life to safely resume to something like normal by that point. With all due consideration to safety, and all due deference to potential complications, it’s consistent with prudence and realism to anticipate getting our lives back. So, yes, ‘Reentry Anxiety’ is a reality, and deserves to be taken very seriously. But let’s also allow ourselves the luxury of informed optimism that we are nearing the end of the pandemic.  

And please: if you find yourself struggling, as so many are in these times, remember that you always have help and resources through the Employee Family Assistance Program. 

TIME-SENSITIVE ITEM 

Please be sure to complete the Diversity Meter survey, which is an important step in an ongoing journey to address equity, diversity, and inclusion at the university. The survey deadline has been extended to March 31st.  

KUDOS AND CONGRATULATIONS 

News of the World: The Department of Geography and the Environment recently shared with us the Spring 2021 edition of GEO-News – the departmental newsletter, providing a wonderful overview of the many exciting initiatives afoot in the program. See the program website for the newsletter. Well done, GEOG! 

No Scholarly Drought Here: Congratulations to the always-prolific Ross Pink (POLI), who just published a chapter called ‘The 2009 Drought in the People’s Republic of China: A Human Security Perspective’ in Juan M. Pulhin, Makoto Inoue, and Rajib Shaw, eds., Climate Change, Disaster Risks, and Human Security: Asian Experience and Perspectives (Springer Press). Kudos, Ross, for this important contribution. 

AN INVITATION 

Engage! Are you following the Digital Recordings on the Employee Engagement page? Whether it’s David Burns’s inimitable ‘Notes from Exile’ video series, the Skill Share series, or the virtual Lunch and Learns, they’re well worth checking out.  The latest entry invites you to enjoy a cup of English Breakfast tea with Christine He and Steve Cardwell, Vice President, Students. Explore key elements of student engagement, how KPU students have been faring during the pandemic, a little about Steve’s “plus one” for key life events, and why you might want to learn the spelling of Csikszentmihalyi. Steve and Christine are also planning a lunchtime Q and A on March 31st – be on the lookout for that! 

REMINDERS 

Speaking of Reentry: You’ll need a KPU ID Card to access campus Mail Rooms and Copy Centres. A KPU ID Card can be obtained at any campus library. If you need your card registered for these rooms, please contact mark.bayrock@kpu.ca with a cc to your Associate Dean. And if you urgently need access and have no card, or for some reason the card isn’t working, please contact Campus Security. And remember, we still need to submit a Campus Visit Request Form before coming to campus.

Blooming Violations: Yes, it’s spring again – which means another gentle nudge to be sure to report Academic Integrity Violations through the portal! This allows us to track students who are repeatedly violating integrity and therefore warrant special intervention; and it also helps us to uphold students’ rights to due process under Policy ST2. Please make sure to submit all the necessary documents with your AIV report, including the student’s assessment in which the alleged violation took place and the evidence to support the finding.     

The White Paper on Research and Scholarship: The March 22, 2021 meeting of Senate began with a brief update on the White Paper which links research and scholarship to the pursuit of teaching excellence. Earlier this year the Senate divided the proposals outlined in the paper into distinct tasks and sent those to the appropriate administrators and standing committees for discussion and recommendations for action. The SSC on Research and Graduate Studies has now brought back some early ideas about how the SSC RGS can help lead discussion on some of the White Paper’s recommendations. One exciting idea under consideration is a special endowment fund to promote the growth and development of research and scholarly capacity. 

It’s difficult to believe that one year ago, we were all struggling to acclimatize ourselves to the remote working world to which we had so frantically retreated at the onset of the pandemic.  With just over two weeks remaining in the spring semester, we take solace in knowing that renewal and reentry are on the horizon.  We wish everyone a restful weekend, and, for those who observe the holiday, a happy Passover celebration!

Diane, Wade, Shelley, and Greg 

Photo credit: “~ may you fly free in your heart with confidence and joy ~” by Cornelia Kopp is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0