MTSU COVID-19 Campus Update.
News March 17, 2020 Daniel Prince
| To members of our Blue Raider family; As we continue to adapt and accommodate to the changes in our work, home and community life due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, I wanted to share with you a few things that are happening on our campus. While we want to be as comprehensive as possible when we provide information, we are operating in a very dynamic environment, with data coming at a rapid rate. We strongly believe that it is important to keep all members of our Blue Raider community informed. To facilitate communications with students, family, alumni and the community at large, we have created a web page, https://mtsu.edu/coronavirus/ that serves as our primary information point. Updated regularly, this page outlines the precautionary actions we have taken on campus and can address many of the questions you may have concerning upcoming activities or events. In addition, this page offers general information on the COVID-19 virus and steps that you can take to mitigate its impact. One thing I want to emphasize, as it is with everything we do, our first priority is the well-being of our students and our University community. As several institutions have posted on social media, in extraordinary cases like this, it is better to be criticized for an abundance of caution than be held responsible for a lack of action. Decisions are being made and we are operating under the standard that the health and safety of our Blue Raider family is our primary consideration. Within our Advancement program, in addition to considerations for meetings and events, we are taking steps to help assure the long-term fiscal welfare of our campus and our ability to serve the needs of our students, as we move forward. To that end, you should be aware of the following: Following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), all on-campus events are cancelled until further notice. This will impact many of our spring events, including our Alumni Spring Showcase and the various activities associated with it, as well as our 1911 Society Luncheon. We continue to monitor this situation and will make decisions on events scheduled after that date, as appropriate. Currently our Alumni Summer College, scheduled for June 17-19, 2020, will proceed as planned; should circumstance dictate a cancellation, we will refund all registration fees. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, we were working with our academic units to modify their funding and spending plans in response to market conditions. We are encouraging our programs to hold a six-to-12 month reserve in their gift accounts if possible, which will help stabilize long-term support levels for our students and our academic programs. With the worldwide pandemic negatively influencing global stock markets, we continue to closely monitor our assets and make fact-based decisions to assure the sustainability of our endowment. While much of our activity is built on our interpersonal relationships and meeting your needs as alumni and friends, our efforts and activities will need to change for the next few weeks. Our staff is being encouraged to work, as much as possible, online via email, social media, or webinars with you (we’ve even encouraged that antiquity of communication – calling you on the telephone to chat) as a means to stay connected and provide a level of service to you. We want that to be a two-way dialogue; please stay in touch and let us know if there are ways we can be of service. Finally, while much of the attention over the past week has focused on the coronavirus and its global impact, we need to remain mindful that for many of our students, alumni and friends from the mid-state, the events of the week before created a far more difficult and immediate challenge. The tornadoes that hit Middle Tennessee two weeks ago have challenged our neighboring communities and created hardships for many, as over 2000 homes were destroyed, access to food and necessities has been limited and more than two dozen lives lost. The outpouring of support for our friends and neighbors has been remarkable, and your University community has been actively working to help. We are part of a remarkable community. History has proven our Blue Raider community to be resilient and responsive, and I fully believe we will answer the call once again. Please know that, while we may be a little less visible for a while, we are here for you and welcome the chance to talk with you anytime. It’s times like these when our pledge to be True Blue means the most and I am proud to be part of this amazing Blue Raider community! Sincerely, Joe Bales Vice President for University Advancement |