President Gabel has released a statement regarding COVID-19

March 16, 2020

Message from the Office of the President

March 15, 2020 — Sent Systemwide

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

At 10 a.m. today, Governor Tim Walz announced the closure of all public K-12 schools across Minnesota beginning Wednesday, March 18 through at least Friday, March 27. In light of this directive, we are updating the guidance we provided you on Friday related to telecommuting and working remotely as follows:

• All University of Minnesota employees systemwide (including student workers) who are able to work remotely should plan to do so beginning Monday, March 16 and no later than Wednesday, March 18. All telework arrangements should proceed with the agreement of employees' supervisors.

• Currently, the University is not moving to reduced operations or closure. Employees who cannot work from home or who are deemed necessary to maintain University operations should check in with their supervisors. Academic/administrative leaders and their human resource and supervisor teams are currently working to develop case by case plans based on the immediate needs and nature of individual units' work.

• Supervisors are asked to be in touch with their teams as soon as possible to communicate plans.

We realize this update—and the constantly evolving COVID-19 situation—creates questions and much uncertainty for many of you. We ask for your patience as we work today on further clarifying updates. I have asked Ken Horstman, interim vice president of Human Resources, to facilitate OHR, campus, and department HR leadership on policy updates and guidance no later than tomorrow as we implement this next phase of the University's COVID-19 response.

Thank you for all that you are doing to keep our community safe. Please continue to check the Safe Campus website for updates.

Warm regards,
Joan Gabel