Between monitoring the statewide and national numbers, securing adequate and timely testing and ensuring ample space for quarantining and isolating community members, the decision to reopen Brown’s campus to more students and return to in-person instruction amid a pandemic was multi-layered.

Although the University has decided to welcome more students back to College Hill and classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic, it is continuing to monitor the situation and willing to make changes to its approach.

Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees, the University and the American Federation of Teachers — SUGSE’s union affiliate — reached a tentative three-year agreement for a union contract, Provost Richard Locke P’18 and Dean of the Graduate School Andrew Campbell announced in a community-wide email June 4.

The Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity released its inaugural Annual Report of Bias April 27. The report contains figures concerning the 23 reports of bias incidents to OIED from October 2018 to June 2019.

The University announced the creation of the Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force, which will plan the reopening of Brown’s campus next semester in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing students to evacuate campus last month. 

Dr. Ashish Jha will be joining the University as the dean of the School of Public Health Sept. 2020. Jha is currently the director of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

About 40 years ago, one in five American workers were union members; though membership has dropped to about 10 percent since then, labor is still an essential part of the American political landscape.

Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board extended the deadline to submit comments on a proposed rule which would prevent graduate students from being classified as workers.

Sitting in the newly renovated Graduate Student Lounge, the Graduate Student Council elected a new chair of nominations, approved two revisions to its bylaws and shared updates on Executive Board initiatives in its final meeting of the semester.

The Graduate School approved several changes to its leave-taking policies earlier this fall.