We have class on Monday, albeit on a liberal leave schedule. And if the Facebook group made in protest of the decision and comments section of our blog post are any indication, people are very, very pissed.
Many students are complaining that it’s unfair and that they already have plans for Monday. So Vox is curious—come Monday, what are you going to do?
In an e-mail that he has just sent to the student body, Provost James O’Donnell has announced that classes will be held on a liberal leave schedule President’s Day, Monday, February 15.
The University will make every effort to open on Friday, he said, and he has asked the Council of Associate Deans to offer a make-up day of class later in the semester. From his e-mail:
We will make every effort to be open as far as possible on Friday: there will be a separate announcement tomorrow, but watch the weather and the roads and assume that we will be trying hard to hold classes.
Classes *WILL* now be held on Monday, Presidents Day, with liberal leave for those who cannot attend, because after almost a week without classroom work, the need to get back in the routine is urgent. I have also asked the Council of Associate Deans, working with faculty leadership, to recommend one further make-up day later in the term. I hope to be able to announce that date next week, once we know for certain how much we have lost this week.
Update 8:12 p.m.: Shown above is Georgetown using Twitter to cancel President’s Day. For all of America. There’s already a Facebook group protesting this decision with 260367454 1,552?! members and counting: “Protect Our National Holiday! Say No To Monday Classes!!!”
Georgetown Provost Jim O’Donnell is ever diligent in his (rather unpopular) efforts to keep Georgetown despite the record snowfalls that have forced campus to close for three days in a row. In an e-mail he just sent to Georgetown faculty, he has provided a link to a website created by the Georgetown Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship that has information and suggestions about how to keep in touch with students—even hold classes—via the Internet.
“Make the Most of the Closure,” the website reads on its main page. While some of its suggestions are pretty basic—e-mail students to review what would have been covered in class—there are instructions on how to hold digital class using the electronic blackboard on Blackboard, how to arrange online quizzes and exams, how to use audio conferencing to hold remote office hours with students, or how to use it to hold class remotely.
In addition Diana Owen’s real-time blog class, the website reveals that other professors have been holding class, too: so far, it boasts the story of physics professor Earl Skelton, who has “held class” every session despite the snow over the last few days.
“It’s still snowing,” O’Donnell wrote in his e-mail, which he shared with the Voice. “We don’t yet know just how much of this week’s face-to-face instruction we will lose, but we’ve lost a lot already. We are focused on safety as first priority and academic progress a very close second.”
In the e-mail, he also says he hopes to have an announcement ready about “tomorrow’s plans” by early evening.
So although she was holed up in her home in Maryland on Tuesday morning, unable to get to campus and surrounded by downed trees and powerlines, Owen still managed to hold her twenty-person, 10:15 a.m. “Media and Politics” seminar using a real-time blog.
“Within minutes, students were generating thoughtful, quality posts that drew upon course readings, previous discussions, current media developments, and their own insights,” Owen wrote in her e-mail. “I felt more like a participant in the discussion than a teacher telling things to students.”
Georgetown University is closed today, and will remain closed on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. Classes are canceled for the Main Campus, the Medical Center, the School of Medicine, and the School of Continuing Studies (all locations).
All designated emergency employees must report to work on time. The Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS) will not operate on Monday or Tuesday.
The library will remain open (see http://www.library.georgetown.edu/ for details). Dahlgren Medical Library will operate as usual (see dml.georgetown.edu for details).
So, if you didn’t do any work today, you lucked out! And with 10 to 20 more inches on the way tomorrow night, who knows what Wednesday will hold…
Update 10:09 p.m.: Provost James O’Donnell has just sent a charming, poetic e-mail about the University’s decision to close the school. From the e-mail, whose subject line is “snow, closing, coping”:
We have spent the day consulting and looking for a way to make it work, but have been unsuccessful, and that’s immensely frustrating for many of us …. Administrative offices will be closed Tuesday, but faculty members who wish to hold classes may do so according to the regular Tuesday schedule but without penalty for students unable to attend. (Alas, that won’t be possible for School of Continuing Studies classes.)
We now have the advantage of multiple technologies of communication, including notably the Blackboard course management system, and I strongly encourage faculty and students alike to take up those tools and see just how much of the business of teaching and learning we can achieve. With a little more time on our hands, can we be inventive and imaginative and find ways to keep the semester moving forward, even on a thick layer of ice and snow? I look forward to hearing about the experiments and victories that ensue.
Victories in the meantime: Lauinger Library, that beacon of our commitment to learning and inquiry, has remained and will remain open and welcoming. Many others, including staff in dining and residence life, the students of the Corp and GERMS, the shovelers and plowers and many others in facilities services, and the officers and staff of DPS — and I wish I could be sure I’m not forgetting anybody! — are still keeping the campus safe and comfortable during this time, and we owe them all our warmest thanks.
Provost James O’Donnell sent an e-mail to students tonight that criticized December’s Heckler controversy and updated students on the University’s three diversity initiatives.
O’Donnell said the Heckler’s latest issue was another failure of the University’s culture:
We continue now in the shadow of another failure — the Georgetown Heckler website’s tasteless and offensive attempt to revisit last spring’s issues, which showcased a failure to comprehend some toxic parts of America’s past and present, a failure to realize that lynch mobs not only aren’t funny, their very invocation sends a painful message to many in our community who directly or through family members had to deal with such threats, while offending many others.
He also wrote that one working group’s proposals are under consideration by President John DeGioia and the Provost’s Office, while the other two working groups will soon present their suggestions for improving Georgetown on diversity issues.
The working group hopes to include diversity discussion in NSO
In a campuswide e-mail yesterday evening, the Office of the Provost announced that the Admissions and Recruitment Working Group has put together a draft proposal for changes to Georgetown’s recruitment process.
The changes, which are meant to encourage a more diverse student body, are not official, and the “plan for implementation” of any changes will not arrive until January 2010, after community comment. However, the e-mail, signed by Provost James O’Donnell and Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Rosemary Kilkenny, did indicate that the suggestions would be “immensely helpful” to the University’s ongoing recruitment of the Class of 2014.
Suggestions for altering the admissions and recruitment process, according to the nineteen-page working group report (PDF) provided by link in the e-mail, include, among other things:
Prominently advertising the 1,789 new scholarships that Georgetown will be adding to encourage need-blind admissions over the next five years to potential students.
Looking into strategies that will increase the likelihood that an accepted student from an underrepresented group will attend Georgetown
Increasing the diversity of Blue and Gray tour guides and their knowledge of diversity issues and clubs on campus.
Including imagery on Georgetown’s redesigned website that highlights campus diversity.
Including a required essay prompt that invites students to discuss how their background or life experience would enrich Georgetown on applications.
These proposed changes are aimed at increasing campus diversity and cross-cultural engagement. The report notes that relative to peer universities, Georgetown has a very low attendance yield among its accepted minority applicants.
Georgetown Day 2009, brought to you by the Temperance Movement
The typical understanding of Georgetown Day is that it goes along with sobriety in the same way oil goes along with water, peace goes along with the Middle East or Leo’s goes along with satisfying meals. In short: they’re mutually exclusive.
So the announcements that have been sent out about Georgetown Day by Provost James O’Donnell have been puzzlingly somber. The first announcement, sent out Monday, made it seem like some pious Catholic festival, starting at the Jesuit Cemetery “as a prayerful community remembering our beloved deceased Jesuits” than moving to Copley Lawn to “honor the Blessed Mother with prayers, songs and flowers” and “build a community of trust and thanksgiving.”
And if mentioning the Virgin Mary didn’t make you feel guilty about your plans to get ridiculously shitfaced, the email sent out last night certainly will.
More on O’Donnell’s expert guilt-tripping after the jump.
Looks like the power of the internet can, in fact, be used for good. Witness the email soon to be sent out to undergraduates from the Provost:
Dear Fellow Hoyas,
I’m happy to announce that the Main Campus will celebrate Georgetown Day –the annual celebration of our campus community – on the last Friday of classes, April 24th . This event brings together students, faculty and staff to mark the end of another academic year, when the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining, but before finals and graduation. I invite you to join us as we celebrate with food, festivities, and friends. There will be opportunities to participate in planning that you’ll hear about directly from the Office of Student Affairs, so stay tuned. Questions or suggestions can be directed to guday@georgetown.edu .
Hoya Saxa,
James O’Donnell
Provost
No word on whether the event will be on the lawn or relegated to the gym yet, but we’ll try to find out.
The Provost’s Office is trying to reschedule Georgetown Day.
I say “trying” because students have erupted over the past 24 hours in an online display of unmitigated fury. According to Bridget Geraghty (COL `09), the change would shift Georgetown Day from April 24th, the last Friday of classes, to April 2nd, a Thursday three weeks earlier.
But more than 2,000 students have already said they aren’t going to stand for it – or at least, that’s how many joined the Facebook group called “Damn the Man, Save Georgetown Day” that Geraghty created last night at 11 p.m.
The sources for this information are not rock solid. Geraghty says she heard the news from her friends who are higher-ups in clubs that help bring this day of moonbounces and beer to our fair lawns. Rumor has it that the problem is scheduling problems with GAAP weekends.
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, a weekly newsmagazine at Georgetown University. Opinions expressed in posts are those of their author alone unless otherwise stated.
The working group hopes to include diversity discussion in NSO
Georgetown Day 2009, brought to you by the Temperance Movement
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