AUC Announces Vaccine Plans; Sets Summer, Fall 2021 Modules

By: Abdelaziz Abouelkhair
@AzizKheir

During the April 22 campus conversation, AUC Counselor Ashraf Hatem announced that in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, AUC has reserved a one-week window at a vaccination site to be established in New Cairo for members of the community to get vaccinated.

The site will be set up for institutions such as universities, businesses and tourism operators to allow them the chance to vaccinate their personnel and resume face-to-face operation. 

Hatem said that AUC plans on vaccinating 5,000 members of the community in the exhibition area near Al-Manara International Conference Center next month.

“The thing is, it’s a long way and we need a lot of logistics to be done so that we would do this after Eid. It is a one-week slot that has been given to AUC by the Egyptian government,” added Hatem.

So far, the available vaccines are Sinopharm and Astrazeneca which will be offered at EGP 200 per dose. 

President Francis Ricciardone said that there has been a spike in the number of COVID-19 infections among students, faculty and staff, with 87 cases being reported just last week.

“We didn’t have our first case until May 7 of last year [2020] and so this thing [the spike in numbers] has gotten serious,” said Ricciardone.

In an email sent to the AUC community, the Management and Operations Office wrote that it will share more details by next week.

Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman added that the AUC community should register for the vaccine through the official portal created by the Ministry of Health in order to reserve their spot for vaccination.

Abdel-Rahman said that the decision to return to a partial face-to-face mode of teaching during the summer and fall semesters had been determined before the vaccination plans.

The courses that will be partial face-to-face will be marked as such on AUC’s banner site during registration. 

“If the situation improves, we are ready to go back fully face to face. If the situation gets worse then we have to roll back fully online and so we are ready for all scenarios,” said Abdel-Rahman.

The Provost also mentioned that the current grading policies are under review, after students had voiced many complaints last semester.

“I have communicated with the Senate to look at all of our grading policies at large in light of what is happening. I know that the Senate is studying the grading system and I am waiting for their recommendations,” said Abdel-Rahman.

Meanwhile, Vice-President for Student Life Deena Boraie announced the dates for the commencement ceremonies for the classes of spring and fall 2020, which had been postponed due to the pandemic, as well as the class of spring 2021.

The dates for the commencements are June 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 and 17. For safety purposes, the ceremonies will take place in outdoor spaces on campus.

There will be a series of 12 commencements spread over the dates Boraie mentioned where four of the commencements will take place in the morning.

“For the smaller schools we combined the commencements. So, for example, for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUSS) and the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) we combined the commencement for the spring 2020 and the fall 2020 class,” said Boraie.

Boraie said that the reason GAPP and HUSS will have a combined commencement is due to their smaller size compared to the School of Sciences and Engineering SSE.

Ricciardone then went on to remind the community of the anti-sexual harassment training.

The AUC president said that the training modules played a key role in raising the community’s awareness on sexual harassment and how to report any cases.

“The training is not a suggestion, not a guideline, not urging you, it is a requirement for all students, faculty and staff to take mandatory anti sexual harassment training,” said Ricciardone.

He added that the training has been taken by nearly 80 percent of the student body.

Ricciardone concluded by confirming that the search for AUC’s next president is still ongoing and that the Board of Trustees may have a list of candidates ready as early as next month.

“I’m assured that they are excellent candidates and I’m delighted by that and I hope everyone else is reassured as well,” said Ricciardone