In an email on March 17 to employees, Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr and Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives Vivek Goel revealed their plan for operations going forward, which includes urging all employees to work from home if possible, as well as shutting down all lab-based research operations by 5:00 pm this Friday.

Administration acknowledged that some employees will still be required to come to campus, though they are changing practices to allow more employees to work remotely. “At the core of our actions is our commitment to enable students to complete their term and start the summer session,” Regehr and Goel wrote. Employees may also be given different responsibilities going forward. 

These updates follow Premier Doug Ford’s declaration of a state of emergency, which is part of the ongoing efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Lab-based research operations are advised to close down by Friday, though exceptions are made for research on COVID-19 and some projects that may be time-sensitive. Those projects must apply through their departments by 1:00 pm on Thursday in order to continue operation. Research that can be conducted off-campus will be allowed to continue. 

Further updates included closing all libraries at UTSG, except for Robarts Library. Libraries will have reduced hours, staff, and limited services for students. Residences will also remain open for students who are unable to leave. 

These changes are part of larger university efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 and provide accommodations which includes moving all courses for the remainder of the semester online and moving the drop deadline for all courses to April 25. 

CR/NCR to apply to program requirements

On Monday, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Dean Melanie Woodin  announced that, among other recent changes to Credit/No Credit (CR/NCR) restrictions, students in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences will now be able to apply CR/NCR to courses that are part of program requirement for the rest of the semester. This update comes in after a formal letter was issued by the Arts and Sciences Students’ Union (ASSU).

The new policy would allow students to apply CR/NCR to an unlimited number of courses, in addition to seeing their grades before choosing the option. In response, the ASSU issued a formal letter requesting that CR/NCR be an option for program requirements as well.

In the letter, the ASSU praised the decision to alter CR/NCR restrictions, but added “this pressure-valve has not been extended to program requirement courses which are often the most stressful and where outcomes matter the most.”