I spent much of this summer in Zoom sessions with the college safe restart task force, the library/ETU task force subgroup and the FA health & safety committee. During these meetings, various plans and ideas were discussed on how to safely reopen the campuses for the fall.

When discussing these plans, I kept on thinking about John Cleese announcing “And now for something completely different” in between Monty Python sketches. Regardless of what the college decided to do, this semester was going to be completely different.

As we got closer to the start of the semester, I received numerous inquires from faculty who were understandably concerned about their working conditions. This was particularly true for nonclassroom faculty whose job descriptions do not fit any of the four approved teaching modalities.

I have collected these questions and created a FAQ that can be found on the FA website's COVID/health and safety page.

It was extremely difficult to plan for this semester, and we might need to adjust what we are doing as the semester progresses. We will need input from faculty on the frontlines to know what is working and what needs to be addressed.

Please send your questions and concerns to your EC representative or contact me at kevinmc@fascc.org. If you need an immediate response, please call the union office at 631-451-4151.

And remember, as you go through this semester, “always look on the bright side of life.”