March 18: Campus Closure, Coronavirus Update

March 18, 2020
Tagged as:
Founders Hall and Peace Lake calm and blue

Dear Soka Community,

Following the Orange County Health Officer order, we are required to minimize the number of people on campus as much as possible while maintaining the essential functions of the university. In light of this I would like to share the following changes:

Effective immediately, we are closing the campus to guests or visitors. The Recreation Center and the Bookstore are also now closed. Family members of our students are allowed on campus to assist students with their moves. The Bistro is only open for students who are currently residing on campus.

Effective Thursday, March 19, only essential operations will continue on campus.

Essential functions of the university include some or all staff from the following areas:

  • Residential Life
  • Shuttle Services
  • Food Services
  • Counseling Services
  • Library (through Friday, March 20)
  • Graduate School Administration
  • ELP (through Sunday, March 22)
  • IT
  • Office of International Services
  • Student Employment
  • Finance
  • Administration
  • Human Resources
  • Public Safety
  • Facilities

All other offices will remain open, but will be providing services remotely. You can reach out to all offices by email or phone to set up appointments using Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

The Soka Support Hub will resume on Thursday, March 19, and Friday, March 20. The few appointments that were made for today were rescheduled to these days.

Some staff will need to be on campus while students are moving out of their rooms. As such, additional Areas may be able to work remotely after March 27. For those employees who must work on campus during this period, please continue to practice social distancing to the extent possible. All other employees will work remotely at least through March 31.

We will continue to send additional updates as the situation is rapidly changing.

Finally, I want to express my appreciation to everyone on campus for their cooperation, understanding, flexibility, and resilience during this unprecedented time.

Please take care.

With appreciation,

-Ed

Edward M. Feasel
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer