Covid-19 Update (Lehman College campus)
Item
From: Lehman Community List <ALL-L@LIST.LEHMAN.EDU> on behalf of President.Lemons
<President.Lemons@LEHMAN.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 8:59:27 AM
To: ALL-L@LIST.LEHMAN.EDU <ALL-L@LIST.LEHMAN.EDU>
Subject: Covid19 Update
Good Morning Lehman Campus Community:
We are starting today in a different world. Yesterday, events moved at a lightning pace,
leading to the closing of NYC public schools, closing of restaurants, businesses and all
events, and bringing our campus staffing down to just essential persons today. These
are all necessary steps, but they create many challenges for us as we strive to continue
to function as a college.
There will be more communications coming today, and this will probably be the briefest,
but there are two things | want to address now.
Before last night's announcement we were already far along in moving to remote
operation. However, we had planned to finish the process today with staff able to be on
campus to gather what was needed to work from home. Since we are not able to carry
out that plan today, every supervisor/chair/director will be working with their deans and
vice presidents throughout the day to accomplish this transition. | ask that all members
of the faculty and staff wait to hear from their chairs/supervisors about the next steps.
By the end of the day, we hope to be well on our way to operating in our new mode.
Finally, more about the student who tested positive for COVID-19. Knowing that
someone who tested positive was in class last week has added to the fear we already
have about being exposed. The protocol we follow after a documented direct exposure
like that is to identify all of the classes attended by the student in the past 14 days and
notify all other students, faculty and staff who might have been exposed. They are
advised to self-isolate until they have consulted with a medical professional for further
steps. If we haven't already, we clean all areas where the student tells us they have
been on campus in the past 14 days. Since almost the entire campus has already been
cleaned that step is completed.
After last night’s email, many students emailed with questions. We will probably not be
able to answer them all because we are extremely busy managing the transition to
remote operations. However, today we will put more information on the website that
should answer most questions. We will not identify the student or provide other specific
information, but we have contacted every person who was in the vicinity of, if not
necessarily exposed to the infected individual. We are guided in these actions by the
best medical advice we can get.
You are receiving this message at your Lehman College email address based on your
affiliation with the College. Emails to this list are sent by authorized administrators to
distribute news of interest. If you have any questions about these emails, please contact the
list owner at all-l-request@list.lenman.edu.
<President.Lemons@LEHMAN.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 8:59:27 AM
To: ALL-L@LIST.LEHMAN.EDU <ALL-L@LIST.LEHMAN.EDU>
Subject: Covid19 Update
Good Morning Lehman Campus Community:
We are starting today in a different world. Yesterday, events moved at a lightning pace,
leading to the closing of NYC public schools, closing of restaurants, businesses and all
events, and bringing our campus staffing down to just essential persons today. These
are all necessary steps, but they create many challenges for us as we strive to continue
to function as a college.
There will be more communications coming today, and this will probably be the briefest,
but there are two things | want to address now.
Before last night's announcement we were already far along in moving to remote
operation. However, we had planned to finish the process today with staff able to be on
campus to gather what was needed to work from home. Since we are not able to carry
out that plan today, every supervisor/chair/director will be working with their deans and
vice presidents throughout the day to accomplish this transition. | ask that all members
of the faculty and staff wait to hear from their chairs/supervisors about the next steps.
By the end of the day, we hope to be well on our way to operating in our new mode.
Finally, more about the student who tested positive for COVID-19. Knowing that
someone who tested positive was in class last week has added to the fear we already
have about being exposed. The protocol we follow after a documented direct exposure
like that is to identify all of the classes attended by the student in the past 14 days and
notify all other students, faculty and staff who might have been exposed. They are
advised to self-isolate until they have consulted with a medical professional for further
steps. If we haven't already, we clean all areas where the student tells us they have
been on campus in the past 14 days. Since almost the entire campus has already been
cleaned that step is completed.
After last night’s email, many students emailed with questions. We will probably not be
able to answer them all because we are extremely busy managing the transition to
remote operations. However, today we will put more information on the website that
should answer most questions. We will not identify the student or provide other specific
information, but we have contacted every person who was in the vicinity of, if not
necessarily exposed to the infected individual. We are guided in these actions by the
best medical advice we can get.
You are receiving this message at your Lehman College email address based on your
affiliation with the College. Emails to this list are sent by authorized administrators to
distribute news of interest. If you have any questions about these emails, please contact the
list owner at all-l-request@list.lenman.edu.
Title
Covid-19 Update (Lehman College campus)
Description
This submission from a member of the CUNY community included an email from Lehman College's President sent the night of March 16, 2020, discussing the consequences of the official shutdown order. In this artifact, we encounter two concerns: logistics and anxiety. On the one hand, the sudden nature of the shutdown limited some college's abilities to fully transition with necessary materials and resources to remote locations, requiring specific extensions to campus attendance to permit effective operations. On the other hand, Lehman College had just received news of student exposure to COVID-19 on its campus, raising fears that the now remote student body would be carrying the infection back to their own homes. This email showed the difficulty of facilitating the transition to distance learning, balancing the twin questions of community support and logistical analysis and needs.
This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
Creator
Lehman College
Date
March 16, 2020
Language
English
Publisher
Lehman College
Relation
Covid19 Update (Lehman campus. COVID Exposure)
Rights
Obtained from Contributor - Copyright Unknown
Source
CUNY Distance Learning Archive
Original Format
Correspondence
Lehman College. Letter. “Covid-19 Update (Lehman College Campus)”. Covid19 Update (Lehman Campus. COVID Exposure), CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1816