I’m including all students and instructors on my reply to Dana Paek’s email below, because almost all of the information that Dana provided in her email is relevant to all.

First, welcome back; I hope you are enjoying being back on campus. To meet your on-campus masking needs, the UW central administration is providing masks to community; you can pick up these masks at various locations on campus: https://www.washington.edu/coronavirus/2022/01/27/where-to-pick-up-free-high-quality-masks-starting-jan-31/. As noted in previous emails, CEE is also providing masks for your use in More Hall 201. At the moment in More 201, we have paper surgical masks and reusable cloth masks (one per person on the cloth masks); double masking with a surgical mask beneath a cloth mask is considered a good way to “level up” you masking. Starting tomorrow we will also have N95 masks available in More 201; while supplies last, CEE will provide two N95 masks per person per week as these masks can be reused multiple times (see page 3 of the this UW EH&S document for information about reusing N95 masks: https://www.ehs.washington.edu/system/files/resources/facemask-guidance-COVID-19.pdf).

Second, “thank you” to Dana and Eugene for sending the email below, which does a nice job of emphasizing issues of particular concern to all students and instructors. I would like to emphasize Dana’s statement that students should feel free to email me if instructors are not clear about their expectations wrt COVID accommodations or if there are concerns about these accommodations.

Third, I would like to note that there have been recent request from students for instructors to provide classes in a fully hybrid mode in which some students participate from on-campus classrooms and some students participate, in real-time, from home. While instructors are required to accommodate students who cannot come to class for reasons such as illness, the need to isolate or quarantine, or the need to care for someone who is sick; instructors are not required to provide classes in fully hybrid mode. Managing a class in fully hybrid mode and providing both in-person and remote students with a high-quality educational experience is challenging, especially when a classroom is not equipped with appropriate technology, as is the case for many UW classrooms. If this is a concern for you, please send me an email; I would be happy to discuss this further with you.

Fourth, I wish you all the best with the remainder of your quarter.

Dear fellow Civil and Environmental Engineering students,

The College of Engineering Student Advisory Council (COESAC) has received a great deal of feedback about students’ experiences as a result of the impacts of COVID. We appreciate all of the input and ask you to continue to reach out to us or our department SAC so that we can better support each other. By now, we have all seen President Cauce’s email about the University’s plan to return primarily to in-person instruction. As students, we have all experienced how challenging the past two years have been; it is important that we work together as learners navigating our education during a global pandemic and partner with our instructors to advocate for our needs.

With the return to in-person instruction announcement by President Cauce, we wanted to make sure that students know what they can and cannot expect from your UW instructors. In short, professors should be clear about their sick policy and you should not feel pressured to attend class in person if you are ill or need to isolate/quarantine due to COVID. There should be clear and fair expectations set by your professor about what to do if you are sick, how the absence will be treated, and how you can achieve the learning outcomes for the course.

Additionally, we want students to know what to do if they become ill or have a COVID exposure by highlighting the University’s updated COVID Quarantine and Isolation page and flowchart. For everyone’s protection, please do not go to class if you are symptomatic, even if you think “it’s not COVID.” Please isolate, get tested, and notify your professors that you will be absent until you test negative or complete your period of isolation if you test positive. Activate/install WA Notify on your phone ASAP, the UW COVID EH&S team relies on it for support with contact tracing and close contact notifications.

If you feel that an instructor has not been clear with their expectations about how they will accommodate students, here are some steps that we encourage you to take (in order):

We also understand that there is a power dynamic that can make it difficult to start a conversation with your professor. Here are some additional suggestions or options that can help:

If you have other feedback for the College or University, we encourage you to reach out to us. The purpose of COESAC is to represent the voices of students throughout the College of Engineering and to partner with College leadership as we seek solutions for the many unique challenges we are facing during this pandemic. If you feel there are other ways that the College can support you and your learning, please make your voice heard.

If you’d like to learn more about COESAC: https://www.engr.washington.edu/students/student-advisory-council.

If you’d like to learn more about CEE Student Advisory Board: https://www.ce.washington.edu/current/student-advisory-board.