AUC Planning for the Next Few Weeks

This is the first of a series of emails you will be receiving over the next few days to update you about our planning for the next few weeks. The Senior Administrative Group met today at the New Cairo campus with the Emergency Management Team and a number of other critical managers, and we believe we will be able to resume many administrative operations as soon as tomorrow.

We hope to begin undergraduate classes on February 13, on an abbreviated schedule, and to start graduate classes a week later, on February 20. Please read the emails that follow this one carefully, since they include important information about the resumption of administrative operations this week, and our expectations for the start of classes next week.

No activities will be taking place on the Tahrir Square campus until further notice. Downtown staff should not report to work until contacted by their supervisors. Any staff members, at both campuses, who are unable to resume work as a result of the closure of the Tahrir Square campus or the limited transportation schedule this week will be deemed on paid leave, which will not be deducted from their annual leave allocation. 

All public events at both campuses are also cancelled until further notice; graduates will be able to collect their diplomas starting on February 13 and we have a committee assessing alternative plans for commencement ceremonies.

Let me say in closing that we are all extremely proud of the AUC community, both those who have participated actively in the public life of Egypt over the last few weeks and those who worked beyond the call of duty to ensure the safety, security and well-being of our students, staff and faculty. Difficult as these days have been—and there may be more trials to come—all of us should be proud. It is an honor and privilege to be witness to fruits of a generation’s investment in their children, at AUC and elsewhere.  We are already planning a variety of activities to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our community and the opportunities represented by our “front seat to history.” 

Thank you,
Lisa Anderson