NSU President Hanbury Offers Support and Reminds NSU Community of Essential Safety Procedures
This is a challenging time for all of us, and I thank you all once again for your work and sacrifice to help our students and our university community continue to thrive during these unprecedented conditions. I’ve spoken with many of you, and with many students and parents as well, and I understand the various levels of concern and anxiety that many of you are facing. Some people are eager to get back to campus, back to “normal.” Others are cautious and want to be sure their work and campus environments will be as safe as possible.
Everyone feels the pressures differently right now, and I appreciate the focus and commitment it requires to keep doing your best to maintain your professionalism during these troubled times. I also realize that many of you, in addition to health and work pressures, are also juggling significant family commitments and needs. You’re busy making arrangements to care properly for your children, your parents or older relatives, or may be worrying about your extended family who may be far away.
I have spoken with senior leadership to remind their faculty and supervisors that, while we must be diligent in enacting and enforcing our COVID-19 provisions to make the campus, workplace and learning environments as safe as possible, another essential part of this effort is to remember to be understanding and as flexible as we can be as we bring faculty and staff from remote work to on-site assignments. We will continue to support all of our employees, whatever their working conditions. The same goes for students, who need to follow the COVID-19 guidelines, but who also need attention and flexibility to balance their academic requirements with safety practices and the distractions of this unprecedented pandemic.
The Return of the Sharks Faculty and Staff Guide distributed last month has provided you with a comprehensive look at the safety requirements in place at all NSU locations. The required practices are simple and straight-forward: mandatory face coverings, mandatory physical distancing, frequent hand washing or sanitizing, regular cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, self-monitoring for fever or symptoms, and staying home to self-isolate preventatively if symptomatic. You will be receiving two NSU face coverings, but you are welcome to use your own.
We consider these to be essential rules of behavior that MUST be followed for everyone’s sake. The best way we can keep our community safer is to enforce proper safety procedures among the entire community. That’s why there will be zero tolerance for improper noncompliance. Those employees, students, or visitors who do not follow appropriate COVID-19 safety requirements will face measures ranging from corrective counseling to removal from campus to disciplinary actions as outlined in the employee and student handbooks.
MANDATORY COVID-19 TRAINING
All NSU faculty and staff are required to complete an online COVID-19 training module, which will be made available by Monday, July 27, and must be completed by or before Monday, Aug. 17. The link to the training will be made available to you by email by July 27.
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
If we all follow the COVID-19 safety protocols, our environment will be much safer for all of us. In addition to following these safety practices yourself — at all times — please help reinforce these practices among students, colleagues, and our community. If you see someone at NSU who is NOT following the COVID-19 safety rules, please ask them to comply in the best interest of everyone’s safety. If they do not cooperate, you have a number of options:
- If it’s a colleague or co-worker, and you’ve asked them wear a mask or follow some other COVID-19 protocol but they refuse, please notify the person’s supervisor or your Human Resources (HR) contact.
- If it’s a student who refuses your request to follow guidelines, you can alert Dr. Michelle Manley in the Division of Student Affairs at (954) 262-7482 or mmichell@nova.edu or report the incident to a Public Safety officer at (954) 262-8999.
- If you ask someone to comply with COVID-19 protocols and they become argumentative or aggressive, please remove yourself from the situation and dial Public Safety immediately for assistance at (954) 262-8999.
In the event of inadvertent non-compliance by faculty or staff, their supervisor will have a conversation with the employee regarding the necessity and importance of following the COVID-19 safety work rules. Any intentional non-compliance or repeated instances of inadvertent non-compliance will be addressed through the NSU disciplinary process.
As a reminder, I’ve attached a handout with the key safety rules taken from Return of the Sharks Faculty and Staff Guide as well as additional details explaining what steps employees should follow if they (a) experience symptoms, (b) receive a positive test result, or (c) are contacted by the health department and instructed to self-quarantine as part of a contact tracing effort. Hopefully, such incidents will be few and far between in our community, but, as with any risk, it’s best to know what to do in advance. Also, please keep in mind that many people who do experience symptoms or even test positive for COVID-19 have mild, moderate or even no serious symptoms. Many choose to continue to take classes or work remotely, if that’s an option and they feel up to it. There are choices for employees so affected, and NSU managers, COVID-19 Coordinators and HR reps in every college and unit are trained to support and guide you every step of the way.
When you became a Shark, you joined a team—a team built on surviving and thriving. As Sharks, we share a responsibility to use our best efforts so that members of the NSU community are taking the proper precautions to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
I know we will all do our part. We will practice the safety protocols and help others observe them as well. Together, we will prevail. Fins up! Masks up!