Watch the first in a series of live sessions with President Paino and other campus leaders, offering the chance to ask questions and engage with the campus community. Aired on April 2nd at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Video Transcript
[Music]
Jeff McClurken: Afternoon; we’ll get started in just a minute. Waiting for everyone to come on into the webinar.
[Music]
Still have a few people trickling in.
I’ll go ahead and just get started. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jeff McClurken. I’m president Paino’s chief of staff. I’m also a professor of History and American Studies here at Mary Washington, and I’ll be moderating our discussion today. You just give me – yeah – give me a few – give me a few – few more minutes to see the… We’ve got a number of people coming in; we’ve got about 68 or 70 people registered for this webinar so I want to make sure we give them a chance to get in before we get into the ground rules, and before I turn things over to president Paino.
Okay. Well, we’ll go ahead and get started, and I’ll repeat some of these instructions a little bit later. Umm, some of you have submitted questions as part of your – as part of your registration. Umm, thank you for that. I would ask that – that – that you go ahead and add them into – add your questions into the Q&A tab. For those of you who have been using zoom in some of your classes – you’re probably used to a particular version – this is a slightly different version of zoom, and, so you’ll need to click on the Q&A tab, and use that, please, rather than the chat – and so – yep – So, we’re beginning to see people put questions in there – in – in the Q&A tab. A couple of things of features about that:
We’ll pull the common questions and – and you’ll get a chance to ask them of President Paino.
In some cases those questions are answered by existing FAQs, so the team working on this, including Mike Breitenbach, our director of web communications, will be answering some of them by – in the Q&A directing you directly to the – to the relevant link to that information.
Um, please do note that if you see a question in the Q&A that you’re particularly interested in hearing more about – you’d like to see the president answer – you can use the “Like” thumb – the familiar thumb – to upvote those. The more upvotes a question gets, the farther up it will – it will appear, and makes it more likely that we’ll put that to President Paino, and have him answer it in the Q&A.
We also have people watching on YouTube, and there’s a YouTube question account, staffed by Shannon Hauser from the DKC, and she’ll be bringing questions from the people watching on YouTube to – to us here. Thanks to Shannon – to Cartland Berge – to Mike and many other people in DLS, and the Help Desk and University Relations that have helped to support this event. At this point I’m going to turn things over to – to our president, President Paino, and – and have him – he’ll do a few remarks and then we’ll open things up to Q&A.
President Paino: Thank you, Jeff. Good afternoon, everyone.
I wish I could see your faces; uh, I can’t, but I am glad to be with you virtually. I know that this is an extraordinary time, and I look forward to the opportunity to engage you and listen to the questions you have. I will do my best to answer them, and, as Jeff mentioned, we also have people online who will try to provide answers as you – as you ask them. If I cannot answer the question or, if no one else here who’s providing that support can answer your question immediately, we have record of you and your question, and I promise that we will follow up with you, and get an answer to your question – if there is such an answer at this point in time – if there isn’t we will work toward that.
The first thing I just want to say to all of you is that I know how stressful this whole experience has been for you; the uncertainty and then being thrust into an online environment, and removed from your community and your friends. I have a 20-year-old and a 22-year-old daughter, myself, who have had to come home amid the coronavirus, so- social distancing that we’re experiencing, and I know my daughter, who is still in college – the challenges that she’s facing, having gone from face-to-face classes to an online environment – and I also see the toll that it’s taking on her day-in-day-out, as her regular routine has been disrupted by this, and she’s no longer to be with her friends, and, also having the experience that she was fully expecting to have on a college campus.
So, I – I know I see firsthand the challenge you’re facing and, for some of you, the challenges are extraordinary. I know that some of you might be facing particular challenges with technology, or internet access, and I know that there’s a limit to what has been able to be done to help and support you in that, and, so I know that as we’ve had to go through this, the way people are carrying the burden is not equal; some are carrying a heavier burden because of their situation, but I do want to thank each and every one of you, and the entire Mary Washington community for the way you have responded over the last several weeks to this crisis. I do know that the people who work here – our faculty and staff – are very committed to you and your success, and your well-being. And, so, part of this here today is to once again get connected with you, and what your concerns and questions are, so that we can support you in this very unexpected journey.
I also want to say I thank you for your own commitment to social distancing; that this is, as I mentioned in a little post that I did earlier on my Instagram and Twitter, just encouraging you to continue to do this, because this is a way that we can sort of live our mission of being socially responsible citizens – that we know that anything we can do to bend that curve, and help us get through. It can – it can save lives, and, so I want to thank you for the sacrifices that you personally are making to help save other lives.
I esp… – my heart especially goes out to the seniors out there, knowing that this is your last semester, and that spring of your last semester is such a special moment in your life – and I know, for many of you, something you were looking forward to – and engaging in many of the traditions that we do – that we have here at Mary Washington – that you no longer are getting to participate in; and so my heart really goes out to you seniors, and it’s one of the reasons why, here at Mary Washington, we do want an opportunity to celebrate you and to celebrate the moment, and to come back as a community; for you to have that day. So, we are committed in the fall – if at all possible – of course we don’t know how all this is going to play out in the weeks and months to come – but our commitment is to having that commencement ceremony in the fall so we can bring the class of 2020 together and celebrate as a community; but also for the other students – especially freshmen who are going through their first year, and getting to look forward to having some of these – participating some of these traditions for the first time – I feel for you as well.
This is not what any of us wanted; it certainly isn’t like you expected. So I am – I am sensitive to what you’re going through, and I want to hear more about what you’re going through and, what ways I can help personally, and what way others here at Mary Washington can help you. We did send out a message yesterday regarding our plan for refunds; I’m sure that there will be questions about that.
The reason why it is taking us so long, is that we did a lot of examination on the – the best way to – to do that refund, and we just came to the conclusion – many – many schools around the state have approached this as just refunding a flat fee – the same fee – to everyone for housing and meal plan; we just didn’t think because of the variety of what students are paying in the various plan – in the various – what residents hall you’re in, what room selection you have; there are variation in what students are spending – same thing with meal plans – such variation, depending on what meal plan you’re in; and even parking – that there are differential parking fees, based on whether or not your a regular parking permit or whether or not you’re over in Eagle Landing, and, so we’re trying to treat each student as an individual – to make sure that you – your refund reflects what you paid.
We are doing an arbitrary date of March 15th – and there might be some question as to why March 15th – the announcement that we were going to be transitioning to online did go out March 11th – that was a Wednesday evening – some students began to move home immediately on the next day of the 12th or the 13th that Friday. Several students did stay around for a while longer as we were hoping – early on – in the early days that we might be able to return to face-to-face. We just figured it was too hard to calculate the differential in those rooms, and so we picked an arbitrary date of that weekend – that first weekend after the announcement – that we were moving to online.
As I mentioned, there will be variation and some people will be wondering “When am I going to learn what my refund is?” Our business office, though working remotely, are working very hard with student accounts on this.
The goal is that this will be able to be processed by May 1. They told me that it would probably take about three weeks, and so, they’re working now, so our hope is that it will be sooner than that.
But, if you have any questions, I encourage you to go to the FAQ and also find those resources and we’ll try to answer those questions. Again, I also am very sensitive that there are students out there who have been experiencing challenge with their distance-learning, the online education, their internet connections; we are sensitive to that.
I know that there have been a lot of conversations with faculty about trying to work with individual students through those difficulties, and so, if you continue to have that, we will try to get who you are, and we’ll try to follow up to make sure we can do everything we can to help you with those challenges.
With that said, I think I’m just going to open it up for questions so that we can have a conversation, and then, at the end of this – again – I will commit to you that this is just the beginning of a conversation, and we can have more down the road. So, Jeff, let’s get started with the questions.
Jeff McClurken: Absolutely. The first question is from Kylie Harbour, and we’ll let her – him ask that.
President Paino: Hi Kylie.
Jeff McClurken: Kylie may need to unmute. There you go. Go ahead.
President Paino: Hi Kylie. You have a question?
Jeff McClurken: Okay, I think I’ll go ahead and read Kylie’s question. “I wanted to know; when am I able to go on campus to get my belongings?” and this was a – this was a question that a number of students had.
President Paino: Okay. Well the fee – what I – what I – the information I have from Dave Fleming, and those who oversee Residence Life, is that, based on the continued spread of the virus here in Virginia, the governor, as you all know, has made a very strong recommendation that we stay at home – we’re under a stay-at-home order, so Mary Washington is postponing the retrieval of belongings until later in April – later this month. However, we do know that stay-at-home order is now extended all the way to June 10, so the Residence Life team is working with the state on how to accommodate students to come back and retrieve their belongings; so there’s going to be another communication that will be sent out next Monday, April 6, with further updates and procedures for how you can sign up to retrieve your belongings. So, what I would say, is look forward to a communication early next week from Res Life that sets out how you can retrieve your belonging – what the process is going to look like.
Jeff McClurken: Okay.
So, our next question is from Lucy, and, again, we’ll try to have her ask this question.
President Paino: Hi, Lucy.
I’m having a hard time with audio, it seems like.
Jeff McClurken: Yeah.
Lucy: Hello?
Jeff McClurken: There you – yes – we can hear you; go ahead.
Lucy: Um; do you believe that the University of Mary Washington cares more about us completing our assignments than our mental health?
President Paino: Lucy, thank you for the question.
I – Mary Washington cares more about your mental health. You know – I know that this is a very stressful time, and, I know it’s creating a lot of anxiety, and so we’re going through particular challenges – with – with all the stress and the anxiety that this is placing upon you or others. I, first and foremost, want you to know that that is – that is our foremost concern. I know those at the Talley Center stand ready, even remotely, to support students who are going through that. If you’re finding it difficult, because of mental health issues, to complete assignments or do your work in an online format, what I would – what – what I would like to do is just have someone, Lucy, follow up with you about your – maybe your individual problems or challenges that this is presenting to you, so that they can be addressed. Is that – is that okay, Lucy, if I do that?
Lucy: Yes, it is okay.
President Paino: Okay. I will make sure that we will have someone follow up with you, so that we can talk specifically about your particular situation.
Lucy: Thank you, and, I appreciate it, but, like what does that have to say for – I mean – the other 30, 40 percent that are also dealing with the same situation as well; does that mean like it’s a little bit overwhelming for the Talley Center to take all these people with these circumstances; or does that also have to pertain to people that have to deal with financial issues, as well? As in, can’t complete assignments because I am working forty hours a week just to put the – keep the roof over my head, and things as, as such.
President Paino: Yeah. Well, you know, the one thing we try to do our best – far from perfect – but something of value that Mary Washington has is that we try to respond to each student’s situation; and so I – I – I take your point, Lucy, and I know that there are a lot of students out there in the Mary Washington community who are hurting; who are going through very very difficult challenges because of this, and, what I would like to do is to be able to address those students on an individual basis. So, I know that we have a lot of faculty who are committed to working with students to try and help them with their challenges; as I said we have people in Student Affairs and the Talley Center; and we will do what we can for each student – each student’s challenges are unique to them, and, so it’s hard for me to give an answer that would blanket – that would cover every particular student situation, but we’re committed to working with those students including you.
Lucy: Mmm. Okay. Thank you for answering my question.
President Paino: Thank you, Lucy, and take care of yourself.
Lucy: I will try.
Jeff McClurken: Okay. Our next question is from Briana McHugh.
President Paino: Hi, Briana.
Briana: Okay. Can you hear me?
President Paino: We can, Briana.
Briana: Awesome. So, my question is I would just like more explanation on the pass/fail grading options cuz I’m just a little confused on it; cuz, um, I’m not doing too well in my one class that’s online; specifically, in class, because I knew I was gonna struggle with it being online um, so how would that exactly work? Like, if I don’t do well in it am I – I’m just gonna get like a flat fail; or, if I talk to the teacher, would he possibly be flexible enough to help me like pass and get the credit, because of all this?
President Paino: Yeah.
Well, thank you Briana for the question. I’m certain that a lot of students have questions about grading policies at this time and, on March 25th, I know the University Faculty Council met, and had a very lengthy discussion around changing grading policies, in order to create a more flexible grading scale; given the – the coronavirus disruption to the semester. I know that this is what came out of that meeting, Briana, and that’s really a – an option that you have all the way to the last day of class, which is April 24th, to change the way your grades are reflected on your transcript, and your options – if you decide not to do a letter grade – you can choose for a credit.
Credit would be for C – for grades C or higher, and those grades will satisfy general education major requirements, as well as prerequisites within your major, for other higher-level classes that you must take. There’s also a Pass-19 option which is for grades below a C: C-minus, D-plus or D; and that grade will also satisfy general education requirements, most major requirements, and some prerequisites – so even if you get a C-minus, D-plus or D, you could still get a passing grade. And then, there’s the no-credit option; and that is – if you are failing the course, but you do not want an F reflected on your transcript – you could choose no-credit. You will not receive any credit for the class – is obviously the downside.
But you do not have to make your decision right now, Briana, and there are going to be more details that come out. I believe there’s a communication that’s going to be coming out next week – again – detailing this policy and your options that you have. But, you have until the last day of classes – Friday, April 24th – to make that decision.
Briana: Okay.
President Paino: Does that help?
Briana: Yeah. So, we have the option of choosing the credit or the P through 19 one; or do we just choose like Pa—
President Paino: I think – my understanding – and this will be clarified, is you just have to choose if you do not want – if you just want to do a credit/no-credit – there are gonna be three options that are reflected if you choose not to have a letter grade. It’ll be credit, which will be for C or higher; Pass-19, which is for grades C-minus, D-plus or D; or no-credit
Briana: Okay; so, if we do the Pass-19 one, or the credit, we still get the credit from the class towards our degree though, right?
President Paino: Correct.
Briana: Okay, gotcha. just wanted to make sure.
President Paino: Yep. Thank you, Briana.
Briana: Thank you.
Jeff McClurken: Okay. So, we have – President Paino – we have another grading-related – another grade-related question, and this is from Sophia Hobbs.
President Paino: Sure. Hi, Sophia.
[unintelligible]
Sophia: Hi. Can you all hear me?
President Paino: I can hear you, Sophia. How are you doing?
Sophia: I’m great how are you?
I’m getting through it.
First, I just want to say “thank you” for hosting this Q&A and letting us ask you questions. I know that probably not all universities are doing this. I really appreciate it. So, my question is in regards to a kind of big email slash document that I sent President Paino – just to let everybody know where I’m coming from – and, basically I gave some background on how I know I,
and, literally, all of my classmates that I’ve talked to, are doing which is not the best right now – so, I had two questions that, to me, were the most important that I could think of; and, these questions were “Would you all consider either ending this semester now – and letting us keep the letter grade we have, or choose pass/fail in our classes; or, would continuing with the semester schedule, but cancelling all final exams and projects?
President Paino: Sophia, thank you for – for the question; and I – you know one thing that – first of all preface my comments with this – you know I – as president of the University I – I engage with the faculty, and, uh, you know – a lot of these decisions – we – we operate under a system called shared governance, where we work collaboratively with faculty – the administration does – to set policies, and a lot of these are conversations around what to do, in terms of grading, and the like, that must be done with faculty; and, I know next week – just to let you know – I will – I’m gonna have a similar live chat with faculty and staff.
One of the reasons I wanted to have this conversation with students first, is, I wanted to know what – what are some of the issues that are on students minds, that I can maybe bring to bear to that conversation. So, I appreciate – I appreciate you bringing this – and the concerns you have. As far as stopping classes – you know – we are – we are committed to providing you the academic fac… foundation that you need for subsequent classes, and your future academic pursuits. This is not an ideal situation, and I think everyone admits that. We’re not alone; every other school is going through a similar experience. As I mentioned at the outset, I’m seeing this first-hand, with my daughter struggling as well, but we want to make sure that we provide you an experience that has integrity, that also sets you up to compete in the world – not only in your academics here, but also after you graduate – this is certainly not ideal – and I know it’s burdensome – but, we’re afraid that if we just stopped classes at this point in time, in the long run, it would hurt Mary Washington’s reputation and cost you – both in terms of your further academic experience, but also your post-college experience – so – so, again I’m happy and I will share with – with faculty, the concerns that students are having about their experience; and, in terms of whether or not there’s anything else, in terms of trying to help students, and lowering your own anxiety and stress level, in trying to work through these classes, in an online environment; but that – that’s why, at this point in time, the decision was made to try and do our best to continue these classes; to give that – you that academic foundation that you need for future academic pursuits – but also professional pursuits, as well; and to keep you on course for graduation.
Sophia: Um, I… Do you mind if I add on one last thing?
President Paino: Sure, please do, Sophia.
Sophia: Thank you so much. Um, I think just – my follow-up with what I had asked about possibly just ending classes now – I know it’s extreme, and it doesn’t sound good – but, with like this crazy situation right now, I know that I – and many of my friends and my peers and my classmates – have experienced, like, a drop in the quality of their classes and – not – no-fault professors – just because this is a surprise to all of us, and we couldn’t have planned for this – but, um, just the fact that – for a lot of us it doesn’t feel as much as, like, we’re getting that quality learning at this point – it’s more of a stressor, um, adding on to just the current stress of living in the world right now with coronavirus going around, so, um, that’s just kind of what I wanted to say. I know it sounds like a lot, but I feel like – from the experience I’ve had talking with a lot of people – it’s not as crazy I might – as it might seem – so, yeah, that’s just what I want to say. Thank you.
President Paino: Okay, no, I appreciate it Sophia; and I promise that what I’ll do is – I – I will share with the faculty and staff next week when I talk to them – the challenges that many of our students are facing and, as you quite rightly mentioned, our faculty – this has been a lot to throw at our faculty, too, and – and I know you expressed that in the email you sent me yesterday, and in your comments, that you understand this is a challenge for everyone, and it’s not the faculty’s fault; the faculty set these classes up to be face-to-face instruction, and this is one of the things that Mary Washington does well is that human contact, small class size – I think one thing that this experience, is, it certainly reinforces the importance of that type of education – that students receive here – and, so, I think they’re very sensitive to what students are going through, but I will relay what you’ve had to say to me on to them as well, and – and – and if there are other more creative solutions to try and help students through this I know that they’ll be open to that.
Sophia: Thank you so much.
President Paino: Thank you, Sophia. Take care of yourself.
Sophia: Thank you.
Jeff McClurken: So, our next question is about the summer, and it’s from Katie Warlick
President Paino: Hi Katie
Katie: Can you hear me?
President Paino: I can now Katie; how are you?
Katie: I’m good; how are you?
President Paino: I’m doing all right; Thank you.
Katie: Um, so, I’m orientation coordinator, and I know that my staff has been working really, really hard to come up with some alternate formats for orientation; but, I guess my question is broader than that.
Do you have any thoughts or comments on what might be happening – um, not just regarding orientation but, you know student transition programs, summer science, SOAR, the second session of summer classes any of those things?
President Paino: Yeah, the decision has been made, Katie, as you may have heard last this past week, that we will be transitioning, unfortunately, to online for the summer, as well, for classes, just because it’s it seems – with the governor’s stay-at-home order extending to the June 10th – unlikely for us to have an opportunity to have those face-to-face classes, and, for faculty, the sooner that they were aware of that, the better – for all the reasons we’ve already discussed – the more they can prepare to teach a class online, the better that class is going to be. If we sprung it on them too late, I’m afraid they’d be in a similar situation as they were in this semester, having it sprung on them mid-way.
In terms of all the other programming in the – in the summer, Katie, a lot of that is – is under discussion – as you mentioned – we have decided – like other schools – that we will not be having any on-campus events in the month of June; so we do know, at least through June 30th, that we will not be having normal summer events on campus.
We are still having conversations about whether or not we can do some of the things that we might have otherwise done in June – like orientation – later on in the summer – in July – that would be ideal, because, I think you can agree, it’s a pretty important experience for students – students to come on campus, and have that bonding moment, and I know our orientation leaders do such a fantastic – fantastic job helping the students – whether it’s an STP or orientation – helping those students transition to life at Mary Washington – so critically important – especially for this class coming in, because, as you might imagine many of these students were probably planning to come and visit campus during the spring – as many high school seniors do in making their decision – and many of them have been prevented from doing that, so, I think having an opportunity to come on campus this summer is even more important than past years; so, that’s something that we still are holding out as an option, and if there’s any way possible to preserve those events – maybe in July – we’re going to try to do that.
However, we need to be realistic; and, we know that right now we’re in a situation where the spread of this vi- virus is accelerating – we are now entering into the next month, where all the projections are that we are going to see exponential growth, in its spread, and until we bend that curve, life will not come back to normal; and, so we’re really just going to have to wait and see over the next few weeks how this thing plays out before we make final decisions about the summer.
Katie: Absolutely. Thank you so much.
President Paino: Thank you, Katie.
Jeff McClurken: So, president Paino, your next question is about the fall, and it’s from Margaret Langan.
President Paino: Hi, Margaret.
Margaret?
Margaret: Hi, can you hear me?
President Paino: I can, Margaret. How are you doing?
Margaret: I’m good; how are you?
President Paino: I’m doing alright; thank you.
Margaret: Does UMW intend to be on campus at the start of the fall?
President Paino: Yes, that is our intention. We have every intention of starting the fall, but I will just qualify that with what I just said to Katie about summer programs; we’re a bit at the mercy of this virus and how it plays out over the course of the next several weeks and months; I think this is why it’s so critically important that we all practice that social distancing and do everything we can to follow the CDC’s guidelines on – on hygiene and keeping our distance from one another, because the more we can curve – bend that curve, the quicker we can get life back to normal; and, so I am optimistic I am – I’m going to remain very optimistic that, by August, we’ll be able to return to normal, and have students move in, and have a wonderful academic year next year; so, that is our intent, and we are planning accordingly.
Margaret: Okay; thank you.
President Paino: Yes; thank you, Margaret.
Jeff McClurken: President Paino, I just wanted to say to the – to the – those in attendance – there are a number of other questions here that – asked more questions about the credit/pass/no-credit – that there there is an email that will be going out – I believe on Monday – to – to students that will walk through all of that; an email that will go to faculty tomorrow, so that, when students reach out to their advisors and to their professors, they’ll have a full – full set of resources to help them work through whether or not it makes sense to make that choice.
President Paino: Okay.
[cross-talk]
Jeff McClurken: So, the next question is from – well – it’s from Sophia Romano.
President Paino: Mm-hmm.
Jeff McClurken: Um, and it’s about graduation.
President Paino: Okay.
Sophia: Hi, can you guys hear me?
President Paino: I can, Sophia; how are you doing?
Sophia: I’m okay. Um, as a graduating senior, and like many of my peers, we need something to hold on to in the thoughts of graduation…
President Paino: Yes.
Sophia: …if we do return, do you have an idea of like a month of graduation will be, and if there’ll be a grad ball?
President Paino: Yeah, so, let me answer the second question first; I know that Dean Melissa Jones is working to see what we can do about those traditions that have been lost – if there’s any – anything that can be done, so I know that there are – there are people on-campus who feel terrible about seniors, and their lost opportunities, and, so, I know that they’re – they’re continuing to have conversations around that.
In terms of commencement, Sophia, yeah, I think, something that we decided – I don’t know – it’s all a blur – I don’t know if this is true for you, but time seems to be a blur these days – so I don’t know if it was last week, or the week before, but I had a discussion with my leadership team, and – and we agreed that one of the special things about Mary Washington is our strong sense of community, and where relationships matter, and we’re – we’re here to support and treat individuals as they are and so, for all of those reasons, we want to do everything possible to have a commencement ceremony for our seniors.
So, you know, we are – we are looking – and we have a committee – a commencement committee – formed to start working out the details of that plan. We do not have an exact date, yet, identified for it – obviously, again, just like I said with some of the other answers to some of the other questions – I’ll qualify all of it with, you know, “we’ll see;” hopefully the – the virus will have run its course and we’ll be back to life – to normal – in the fall – and if we are back to normal – yes, our plan is to have a commencement.
Right now – tentatively – we’re looking at the month of October for that commencement, and, our plan is to do it on Ball Circle, just like we would if it was a – were done in May, so, that is our hope, because – just like you – we feel that you have been – been robbed of a very momentous occasion that’s important to you and your family, and we want to do everything we can to make sure that you get to have it.
Sophia: Thank you very much, President Paino.
President Paino: Thank you, Sophia; take care.
Sophia: You, too.
Jeff McClurken: Okay, President Paino; our next question is – is about refunds, so, and it’s from Camilo Rodriguez.
President Paino: Okay
Camilo?
Camilo: Hello?
President Paino: Hello!
Camilo: Hi. Okay; can you guys hear me?
President Paino: I can.
Camilo: Okay. So, basically my question was – we did get an email yesterday about refunds, and all the information relating to that, but, my question is: “Why will there be no partial refund for tuition, despite there being a significant difference in quality between online and in-person classes?”
President Paino: Yes.
Thank you for that question. Well… obviously this is a situation that no one wanted, and, I think that all of us can agree this is not the experience that you paid for – the reality is – in terms of running a university – that we are committed to trying to keep the academic schedule going, so students could still get their credit; and that – because of that – there is no – there’s no savings to the University – in fact, if anything, we’ve had to make additional investments – it’s actually been costlier for us – to be able to offer the classes, and to continue the classes.
As you probably can appreciate, Camilo, we’ve also – when we start into a year, and students come here, they make a commitment, and we make a commitment; it’s interesting just to note that, as a public university, no student pays their total costs of attendance, because there are other forms of scholarships – whether they’re from the endowment, or whether – or not they’re from the institution, or other grants that come from federal or state, or just the state appropriation that we get on an annual basis to help underwrite the cost of education – it’s a very costly enterprise, and we make an investment with contractors and employees that’s – that extend throughout the academic year, and because we were all forced to stop face-to-face, didn’t mean that those commitments for the University stopped.
So, all of the people – most of our budget is wrapped up in people – and those contracts extend through the year. The only way we could recoup any of the savings from this year would be, to quite honestly lay off employees, which is something we have resisted doing – we are committed to the people who are here to wor,k and serve our students, and so the reality of the situation is that we are going to continue to make progress towards giving you the credits for the semester, doing the – our faculty doing the best they can to give you the best academic experience they can in an online situation, and also try to acknowledge that this is not exactly the experience that you paid for, and to give you as big a refund as we possibly can.
Unfortunately, this is going to come at a huge cost to the University, as well, and it’s going to blow a huge hole into our resources. We are working hard, every day, to try and figure out a way to make sure that we stay afloat, and keep our employees paid and engaged, so that they’re here this summer and the fall when students come back; but, that’s – that’s the general reason why there’s not a tuition refund in the same way that there’s a housing, meal plan and parking refund.
Camilo: Okay, thank you; and I do have just one more little question. Again, it regards this.
President Paino: Sure.
Camilo: So, if it’s costlier to continue with online classes then, why not just suspend classes overall, as someone mentioned earlier, as it would benefit both the University and students, as it would relieve like an extreme amount of stress in a time of panic in the world?
President Paino: Just stop classes? So that students would – this semester would just be a lost semester?
Camilo: Not necessarily a lost semester; more of just like – cut it off where it is now, and allow, like, grades to stay as they are now, and that would be final grades.
President Paino: Yeah. I – I think that the challenge there is – we would be: A) an outlier, and I think that would damage our reputation. We are an accredited institution, and that there is a – we certainly have – through our accreditation process – have been granted the authority to transition these classes to online; but to stop them halfway through and to give grades would really be a violation of that contract, and that accreditation that we have, and we want to make sure that the degrees that you ultimately receive from Mary Washington have the integrity they need, and the accreditation they need, in order to give you the currency on the job market, and as you apply for graduate school so – so I think that that would probably present a greater harm to students than the path that we’re on currently.
Camilo: Okay. Thank you. thank you so much for answering my question.
President Paino: Take care; yes.
Jeff McClurken: President Paino, the next question is about construction projects; that comes from Caleb Picard.
President Paino: Sure.
Caleb: Can you hear me?
President Paino: I can. Hi, Caleb. How are you?
Caleb: Good. My question was how construction projects are being handled; there are a lot of projects on campus that are under a lot of construction, and, I know that the school is already in a financial deficit, so, is there a plan for these construction projects or are we just kind of waiting for everything to come back to normal; see what happens?
President Paino: Yeah. Good question.
So, you’re right, we do have a lot of construction projects at various phases. We did just – fi… – finish Willard, and we already committed to the financing of transitioning and doing Virginia, which are really two kind of mirror – mirror buildings there, and we’re using the same contractor architects to do that work, which helped – us if we did a two-for-one there – so that is proceeding on schedule.
As to Seacobeck, we will – you know – we had some – some market escalators on the Seacobeck project, and, so we needed to get more funding from the state to help complete that project on time. We – just as this crisis was starting – with a – the legislature finished their session, and, the good news is that we have the money we need in that budget; but, now, Caleb, quite honestly, we do not know – the governor has until April 11th to basically sign a – sign a budget, and we know there’re gonna be changes to it as a result of what’s happening in the economy. We’re hopeful that does not affect the money that we are going to get for – for Seacobeck, so, for the time being we’re proceeding on schedule on Seacobeck, as well.
The next construction projects were around planning for a new theater, and the renovation of DuPont, Pollard and Melcher’s; again, we had planning money in the budget for that, and, we have no idea – probably until April 11th – whether or not that will survive the governor, in light of this crisis. We’re hopeful that it would – that it will – any students who have had classes in those buildings know that there’s desperate need to deal with the deferred maintenance issues, and to create a greater footprint for that – for those academic departments and that’s what a new theater would provide; so, we’re kind of in a wait-and-see on whether or not that project will be affected.
Caleb: Um, as a follow-up, you guys talked about renovating the theater right after we’ve renovated the amphitheater, and seen no movement and no – nothing with the amphitheater; um, is there any way where we plan on using the amphitheater, or is it just gonna stay as a finished project?
President Paino: Well, it’s getting more and more use that – we’re starting to get contracts – you know I think it’s a – it’s a great observation; it’s been underutilized, up to this point in time. A lot of it is around the cost of management; but we are going into this spring and summer with actually a lot more things getting scheduled in there, and, of course, now, in light of this many of those things are going to be canceled. So, yes, we hope to more fully utilize the – the amphitheater as we move forward.
Caleb: Okay, thank you.
President Paino: Thank you, Caleb.
Jeff McClurken: So, President Paino, our next question is from Meryl Menez- Menaz- for – sorry for –
President Paino: I know Meryl! Hi, Meryl. She was in my class. Hi! So good to hear your voice; how are you doing?
Meryl: I’m okay. How are you?
President Paino: I’m hanging in there; hanging in there.
Meryl: Um, so, my question is basically, how do you plan to support graduating seniors, and how have you already done so?
President Paino: Yeah. Thank you, Meryl.
You know – I – we – I think the best thing that we can do is try to figure out ways that, when all of this is behind us, to – to celebrate our graduating seniors, and to give them as much of the experiences that they missed out on as we possibly can.
The biggest one – of course – being a commencement, and that’s why – to me – it’s so important that we actually have a commencement ceremony on Ball Circle, where your friends and family – and the Mary Washington community – can celebrate you, and that you can come back together with your – your fellow students and be a part of this community.
So, if there’s other things – and I know – as I mentioned earlier – that we have those in Student Affairs trying to think about how – down the road – we can recreate some of the experiences – if at all possible – we certainly want to. I think that we’re also open to suggestions, Meryl, on other things we might be able to do. I think the frustrating thing for us – like it is for everyone – is the uncertainty – how long this is gonna last – it’s so difficult to make plans – and a lot of the questions are about the future – which I – you know that’s part of my job, is trying to prepare for the future – and it’s hard to know, when you don’t know when that future is going to commence, right?
So – so, yes, I think – for us – we want to acknowledge our seniors and give them that – that moment to celebrate; and, so, we’re hoping that sometime in the fall – we’re looking at October – that we will have a commencement ceremony for you.
Meryl: Okay. Yeah, it’s – I think it’s just been confusing with graduation – just with everything generally, with, like cords and robes, and I guess what’s happening, but we all know it’s not the University’s fault.
President Paino: Yeah, and I appreciate that, Meryl. Why don’t I – I’ll work with my team on how we are communicating more directly to graduating seniors; I quite honestly don’t know – and there maybe have been communications with you that I’m not aware of – but some of the other things that – that – that all come a part of this – this – the end of the year, and the end of your experience – I know there might be questions about – you know – award ceremonies – Eagle Awards and the like – and, so, I know these are all things that are under discussion, in terms of how we can continue those traditions for our graduating seniors; I just don’t know where we are with a lot of it.
Meryl: Okay.
President Paino: Okay. Thank you very much. Take care of yourself Meryl.
Meryl: You, too.
Jeff McClurken: So, President Paino, our next question is – is from Catherine Keating and it is about – is about professors and extra Credit Opportunities, so.
President Paino: Okay. Hi, Catherine.
Looks like she’s on mute.
Jeff McClurken: It does.
You may need to – it’s set up so you should be able to unmute yourself, now, Catherine.
Okay, well, I’ll go ahead and read Catherine’s question, here.
“Is the university, as a whole, encouraging professors to provide extra credit opportunities, so that students have the means of boosting their grades?”
President Paino: Well, Catherine, I, personally have not had any conversation in which I encourage faculty to do that – I don’t know – I don’t know – faculty might frown upon a president suggesting how they – how they issue grades and award points. I think what I can do – and as I’ve said to some earlier questions – is that, next week I am talking to faculty and staff, and I can raise some of the concerns I’ve heard here today, and, again encourage – as I know they are eager to do – faculty to support students any way they can, as they go through this.
So, I’m happy to have the conversation with them, but, again – just to remind – you know – faculty have a lot of discretion in how they manage their classes. I know, as a former faculty member myself, probably the last thing I wanted or needed was a – was an administrator walking into their office making suggestions on how they teach their classes and evaluate their students, but I think that the general point – that students are feeling a lot of anxiety and concern about these classes that they’re in, and their success in those classes, is one that that does need to be communicated, and I’m happy to send that message.
Jeff McClurken: Okay. The next question is from Jennifer Hill, and it’s about online teaching.
President Paino: Sure.
Jen?
Jennifer: Hi. Can you guys hear me?
President Paino: Yeah, I can, Jen. How are you doing?
Jennifer: Doing okay. How are you doing?
President Paino: Doing all right.
Jennifer: So, my question is kind of related to how the university – after this pandemic – hopefully – is over soon – how we will kind of take what we’ve learned, and respond to it, and so, I am wondering if – in the future – the university will require some kind of faculty academy, or training for professors and other faculty to go through on how to do, like, efficient and good online teaching.
President Paino: Yeah, that’s a – that’s a great – great question, and a great point, too. I think – you know – when – when the dust settles a little bit on what we are going through, what you just asked – I think – is the first thing we should do as an institution – is what have we learned, and how can we better prepare ourselves in the future.
Again, we hope that we don’t – aren’t faced with another pandemic any time soon, but you never know what life will bring, and we are living in the digital age, and more and more classes are able to be offered online. And, I think you see variation in terms of Faculty’s preparedness to teach online; some faculty have gone through professional development and learning how to teach online. We have wonderful experts in our Digital Knowledge Center to support faculty – and students, as well – the Digital Learning Support – in that regard – some have taken advantage; others less so, and, so, I know that the Provost, and the deans, and the academic leadership will work with the faculty moving forward, in terms of what it can do to better prepare faculty to teach online classes.
Again, many of our faculty haven’t taught online, and they weren’t prepared to do so this semester, so you’re quite right – you know – some were more prepared than others to be able to teach in this – in this environment, and, I think – moving forward – we need to try and help them be better prepared.
Jennifer: I also have kind of a related question to Meryl’s:
I kind of want to extend what she was asking, and say: “How do we plan on supporting graduating seniors – in terms of starting their career – during this pandemic?”
President Paino: Yeah.
Jennifer: I think that this is a very difficult time, and, I, myself, am having to kind of come to terms that I may enter the workforce starting working from home, so, I was curious at what the university is kind of looking at – to help those graduating seniors make that transition.
President Paino: Yeah, that’s a great question.
I’m glad you raised it. Jennifer, I – I think that everyone who’s on this – especially graduating seniors – needs to know that all the people who work to support you, like the people who work on our Center for Career & Professional Development, those folks are still here to support you, and you need to access those services; even if it’s remotely, because – whether it’s your faculty advisor, or the people who work in the Career and Professional Center – they’re all there to help you – both get ready for the workforce, to graduate school, or whatever it is.
So – so, yes, by all means – even if it’s remotely – access them, call – get – make an appointment, talk to them, because that’s what we’re here for – is to help you get ready for the next phase, and we’re still here, and that’s still our job. So, I think that’s a great question and I’ll make sure that – you know – we’ll pass your name along to the center, so that they can reach out and make sure that – that you know how to touch base with them.
Jennifer: Thank you so much, and I really appreciate you guys doing this live session.
President Paino: Thank you; you take care of yourself.
Jeff McClurken: Thanks for all your work in the DKC, Jen; we appreciate it.
The next question is – I lost it there – okay – is from Gabriella Hickman, and it’s about – a question about the rise with – the rise of cases and concerns about what would happen if a student required hospital care.
President Paino: Gabriella?
Gabriella: Hi, can you guys hear me?
President Paino: Hi Gabriella.
Gabriella: Hi. Yes, so, I know that, personally, my parents are both essential workers; I’m an essential worker; we all have pre-existing conditions – especially focused on the lung area – and I know I have a younger sister who’s only 7 – and if she contracts this virus there’s not a lot of hope for her. So, I’m already really worried about that, but, I know you want to continue classes and I understand the reason why; but, my question is:
“If I do contract the virus, or if one of my family members do, this isn’t going to be a priority for me, so, how would you guys help me, so, that way, I can still stay on track, but not have to worry about it as much?”
President Paino: Yeah. Thank you for that question, Gabriella. I’m glad you asked it, and I hope everyone who’s listening will hear the answer is that “Yes, your health is of paramount importance; it’s much more important than anything else we’re talking about here,” and, so – if – it – we’ll treat it like any other medical emergency, and there will be an opportunity for you to sort of stop out, and – and – get well before anything else has to be done as it relates to your classes.
We have provisions for medical emergencies for students who go through such a medical emergency, and so, the last thing you or your family needs to worry about – and we will work with you – is your classwork – if you, in any way, or have any family members that you have to attend to, or if you have a disruption in your life as a result of this virus – you need to let us know – you need to let your your your academic adviser know – and you need to let your faculty members know – anyway – just any one person know – and we will do what we can to support you, and make sure that this is not a – not a concern to you.
Gabriella: Okay; so, there’s no, like, set regulation right now for how to deal with this?
President Paino: Uh, specifically this – if you contract the virus?
There’s nothing specifically about that. There’s just sort of the general – that we have medical emergencies – and we’ll respond and – because there are such a variety of medical emergencies – that there are opportunities for you to – for your classwork to basically be suspended at that point in time – not dropped out – while you are addressing and having to take care of that medical emergency.
Once you are well, you can then start back up with your faculty in terms of how you complete the class, and get your credit, and that would be – that would be worked out on a case-by-case basis.
Gabriella: Okay. Thank you so much.
President Paino: Yes.
Jeff McClurken: President Paino we have time for one more question, and it’s gonna come from Amana Qasem.
President Paino: Okay. Hi, Amana.
Jeff McClurken: Amana, it looks like you’re still muted.
Okay. No mic. So, I’ll just go ahead and read Amana’s question:
“Will internship – will internship requirements be enforced the same way – since many – if not all – summer internships and fall internship opportunities have been canceled?”
President Paino: Okay. Great question. You know – I – I’m gonna I’m probably gonna punt a little bit on this because – you know – a lot of the internship requirements are within specific programs, and there are probably going to be different accommodations depending on that requirement, and depending on that program; and so, maybe, the best way to deal with this, Amana, is to have – have someone get back in touch with you, to talk to you specifically about your situation.
We know that, in some programs like nursing and teaching, that we are working towards accommodations for students who have practicum requirements, and so I – I imagine there’s some of the same conversations that are going on around internship requirements that cannot be fulfilled as a result of this; so, let me have someone get back with you.
Is that okay? I guess – you’re – I – we can’t hear you so we’ll just have someone get back with you. Okay, Amana?
Jeff McClurken: Okay. Thank you, President Paino.
Thank – thanks to everyone who joined – both here and – and on the livestream. I just want everyone to know there will be future opportunities to reach out to, and interact with, President Paino, and various administrative members, but in the meantime, I really encourage you to use the resources at umw.edu, where all of those coronavirus FAQs are there.
Answers from today will be added to those FAQs over the next few days, and this stream will be available for – for rewatching, so, thank you all very much and – and – and stay safe.
Thank you, everyone.