[Important Information for Employees] Spring Restart Message from President Enyedi

[Office of the President]

Good Morning Campus Community,

Today marks the start of the Spring 2021 semester.

I sincerely thank each of you for your hard work and care to ensure we are
prepared to begin today safely. Planning for our restart has been ongoing
since mid-November and reflects your dedication and commitment to our
students. As I said through the fall, and wrote to our students just a bit
ago, I am inspired by and appreciate each of you. We would not be serving
our students today without your collective effort. This is Cardinal care
and spirit in action.


*Health and Safety*The health and safety of each of you, the full campus
community, remains paramount. While COVID-19 case numbers in the North
Country are declining from the post-holiday spikes, and we are encouraged
by vaccine sites ramping up, the pandemic still requires our diligence.
Precautions -- for yourself and all of those around you -- are critical.

Our *Social Distancing and Face Covering policy*
<https://www.plattsburgh.edu/about/offices-divisions/administration-finance/management-services/campus-handbook/section-viii-health-safety/social-distancing-face-covering.html>
is
still in place, as are gathering and event restrictions. You must also
continue to *complete daily health screenings*
<https://www.plattsburgh.edu/about/offices-divisions/administration-finance/human-resources/health-screening-covid-19.html>.
The use of personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, and other
steps are helping. Classrooms also remain altered to lower density. We
continue to advance this with students and the Cardinal Pledge, which you
see all across campus and in communications.

As with the fall semester, updated details and information is always online
at the college's COVID-19 page, *plattsburgh.edu/COVID-19*
<http://plattsburgh.edu/COVID-19>. Community standards will be enforced
with the student conduct policy and its application off-campus. I
appreciate the ongoing outreach work of Enrollment and Student Success to
ensure we are effectively communicating expectations.


*Testing and Requirements*We will continue to use pooled surveillance
testing for COVID-19 to isolate and control spread, but it will be every
week for each of us all spring. The full campus community will be tested
weekly. This is being done across the SUNY system to ensure campus and
wider communities of our focus on health and safety. *Details on our
process are here*
<https://www.plattsburgh.edu/covid-19/covid-19-testing.html>.

Vaccines will grow in importance through the semester, though the pace and
breadth of the rollout will take time. I am so proud that some of our own
students are playing active roles in this, *as you can read here*
<https://www.plattsburgh.edu/news/news-archive/nursing-students-step-up-administer-covid-vaccinations-at-local-hospital.html>
.


*Care and Community*We are here for our students. We are also here for each
other. Reach out, connect, lend a hand, be a friend. This approach was on
display *across Canada last week during Bell Let's Talk Day*
<https://letstalk.bell.ca/en/ways-to-help>. We can draw on such examples,
too.

This semester is in a time like no other, words that keep being written but
continue to be true. The events that shook our nation only a few weeks ago
still resonate, still disturb us.

The New York State Employee Assistance Program is our worksite-based
program designed to help employees, retirees, and their families deal with
the everyday issues involved in balancing work and life, as well as more
serious problems that may impact work performance. For assistance, call
518-564-3277 or 518-564-5187. *More is online here*
<https://www.plattsburgh.edu/about/offices-divisions/administration-finance/human-resources/benefits/employee-assistance-program.html>
.


*All S.E.T. and Equity*I have written about our focus on being All S.E.T.
This will continue to be shared as we keep building this into our ethos.
The acronym S.E.T. stands for student-centered, equity-minded, and
trauma-informed.

Our 28 Days of Equity begins today, the first day of Black History Month.
The goal is two-fold: Build our collective sensitivity of racial equity
while moving us from talk to intentional action, and to challenge us to do
our own work to address inequity in our daily lives. Look for posts of
daily activities on social media and the daily digest. Use
#CardinalEquityChallenge to show that we are in this together.

What we do is as important as ever. It is readily apparent when we see our
students -- via Zoom or walking around. They are growing as Cardinals.

Thank you again for all you do and how you make their dreams come true.

Dr. Alexander Enyedi
President
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