Spring Semester Greetings

January 26, 2022

Dear Baruch Faculty and Staff:

Welcome to the Spring 2022 semester! The space between semesters affords a bit of an opportunity to press the reset button, spend time with loved ones on holidays, or in my case, read a novel or two as the pace of campus responsibilities slows. Unfortunately, this winter “break” brought the unwelcome Omicron variant with it as well.

Updated Guidelines and Protocols for Spring

Fortunately, according to the New York City Health Department, cases and hospitalizations have been decreasing locally. Thanks to the high vaccination rates in the City and among our faculty, staff, and students, we are looking forward to a more in-person spring semester when classes begin this Friday, January 28. CUNY central office may issue additional guidance if the current situation changes drastically. Students taking in-person or hybrid courses must be vaccinated when classes begin (unless they have an approved exemption), meaning students who have not complied with the vaccination mandate will be dropped from class rosters before the start of classes—and most already have been. Students will be required to receive a booster vaccination when they are eligible. All faculty will be required by the State to be vaccinated against Covid-19 unless a religious or medical exemption has been approved. The implementation of that mandate is still under development, but if you are already vaccinated, please upload your proof of vaccination in CUNYfirst. We will also continue to strictly enforce the CUNY mask mandate for indoor spaces.

Our spring semester modality mix is an on-ramp to the intentionally hybridized future we are designing together. For Spring 2022, we are offering 57% of course sections in person, 22% hybrid, and 21% fully online. Note that hybrid courses are expected to meet about half—and a minimum of 25%—of contact hours in person. (An online course with in-person exams is considered an online course in the schedule—not a hybrid course.) It is imperative that faculty teach their classes in the modality published in the CUNYfirst schedule. Doing so is important as the published modality is our firm commitment to the students. At the same time, this allows the campus to enforce the student vaccination mandate for in-person and hybrid classes to help keep the entire community safe. More importantly, we need to work together through this more in-person mix of course modalities to begin to correct for the learning losses many of our students experienced during three semesters of remote instruction. We need to approach our modality mix in the context of many factors, including accreditation, faculty preference, facility use, and more, but the most important factor is What is best for student learning, persistence, and completion?

Promoting Respect and the Bearcat Commitment

The remote environment and the distancing it enforces between people, including between students, have led to an unfortunate increase in inappropriate, uncivil, and even hurtful discourse between students (and even between students and faculty) who meet each other only in the remote and mediated environment of a Zoom room or Blackboard discussion.

As a response to this, the Office of Diversity, Compliance, and Equity Initiatives (ODCEI) in collaboration with the Office of the Provost approached the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for assistance in remediating this problem. During new semester orientations, all students, whether joining us as a first-time student or a transfer student, are introduced to the “Bearcat Commitment,” which affirms that they will act with Integrity, pursue Excellence, Respect others, and Engage productively. The Executive Committee, acting on behalf of the Baruch Faculty Senate, voted to support the recommendation that faculty include the Bearcat Commitment and the additional statement that follows it (both inset in italics below) in their course material for Spring 2022 and beyond.

Bearcat Commitment

Baruch College is committed to the values of Integrity, Excellence, Respect, and Engagement. As a Baruch College Bearcat, each student commits to these ideals by promising the following at their new student orientation:

• I will dedicate myself to learning and practice personal INTEGRITY and academic honesty;
• I will challenge myself and others to achieve the highest level of academic EXCELLENCE by taking responsibility for my success;
• I will value our culture of diversity, RESPECT those around me, and foster an inclusive community through inquiry, compassion, and celebration;
• I will promote ENGAGEMENT and involvement in our community and beyond through participation, leadership, and service;
• I promise to honor these values and lead by example.

With this Baruch College Bearcat Commitment in mind, please be reminded that Baruch College is committed to policies and practices that promote equality, equity, opportunity, and access in all of its educational programs and activities. Civility in all Baruch College online, hybrid and in-person classes and activities—and respect for the opinions of others—is essential for promoting an academic environment in which everyone can learn and do their best work. In an academic environment, we must learn to disagree without being disagreeable; this means that courteous behavior and respectful discourse are required always in our Baruch College classrooms and in all our related educational programming and activities. 

Please include this text in your spring semester syllabi and/or post as an announcement on your Blackboard front page. It is our hope and belief that when students are reminded of this commitment, one that they already made when they joined the Baruch community, they will refrain from the inappropriate discourse that has unfortunately become more prevalent in our remote environment.

In closing, I look forward to wrapping up my listening tour with faculty and staff in academic departments during the spring semester and getting to know more of you as we have additional opportunities to see one another on campus.

With best wishes for a successful spring semester,

Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs