August 19, 2020
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff on the Pittsburgh Campus,
It is always inspiring to see students coming to campus in the fall, many of whom are leaving home for the first time to begin their University and adult-life adventure. Launching into an unknown but promising future requires courage and commitment. That is true this year more than ever.
In this unprecedented semester, we offer faculty and students multiple options for participating in in- and out-of-class activities and information to make informed decisions. Planning for a safe, engaging return to campus during the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on three things: determining the facts about the virus and how to control infection, designing a resilient mode of teaching and research to maximize our ability to pursue our mission in any condition the pandemic presents, and communicating the risks and the measures needed to keep each other and our community safe.
Our healthcare and facilities experts have designed and executed careful safety preparations; students are arriving on campus and in Oakland in an orderly, staged manner with shelter-in-place instructions and surveillance testing to determine the prevalence of infection; we are monitoring and posting the results publicly; and we have shared information about the health rules that we all need to follow. Our classrooms have been checked and their HVAC systems tuned to meet CDC guidelines for ventilation. They have been carefully measured and marked so students and faculty are not within 6 feet of one another for any length of time. In addition, our students created and committed to a Campus Community Compact, which has been shared with faculty and staff.
Our new teaching modality, Flex@Pitt, allows us to use technology to teach and learn in any situation the pandemic presents and also allows faculty and students the option to teach and learn remotely in all conditions. Although I had hoped that after beginning the first week of the semester remotely we would move immediately to mostly in-person classes, we now think it prudent to extend the remote period until September 14. This adjustment to the schedule will allow for the completion of staged arrival and shelter-in-place procedures so that all students can start in-person classes at the same time. Additional information about what in-person classes will take place while Pitt is in the Elevated Risk posture will be forthcoming.
This summer we have also spent considerable time reckoning with societal injustice in the form of police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism throughout society. We have heard from our Black students, as well as Black faculty and staff, that our campus is not the safe, inclusive, and equitable place for all that we are committed to creating. I am grateful for their courage in speaking out and demanding change.
As you have heard from Chancellor Gallagher, we are responding with significant changes across all our University operations and academic pursuits to create the anti-racist university that we aspire to be. I am excited to announce that among the first of these changes is a new course, designed by a committee of expert faculty. The course, Anti-Black Racism: History, Ideology, and Resistance, is a free, one-credit course that we are requiring of all our first-year students and offering to all enrolled students. The asynchronous course consists of a series of lectures given by renowned faculty, staff, and activists, is scheduled for one hour per week, and is graded on an S/NC basis. All first-year students will be automatically enrolled in the course for the fall term. It will also be made available to faculty and staff and the broader community beginning in a few weeks.
The course is designed to inform us all about Black history and culture, about the multiple forms of anti-Black racism, and about how we can be anti-racist. This course is a deposit on our commitment to transform our institution and our society, beginning with education and focusing on our future through the special class of 2024.
In the two years that I have served as Provost, our local as well as broader community has been tragically assaulted by hate, torn by xenophobic attacks both local and national, tested by a raging pandemic, and challenged to reckon with our own racism and complicity with evil. While I mourn our losses and condemn the perpetrators, dissemblers, and collaborators, I could not be prouder of our collective efforts to overcome. Together we can rise above our challenges and become the caring, committed, and transformative beacon of truth and inquiry that we aspire to be. In spite of the challenges, there is nowhere I would rather be than here, striving for positive change with all of you.
Finally, to all of our students I say: We are so glad you are here (whether in-person or virtually); we are grateful for your courage and determination; and we are committed to your safety and well-being. You energize us and give our work meaning and a noble purpose. To our faculty and staff, as always, thank you for your dedication to our mission.
Hail to Pitt!
Ann E. Cudd
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor