[Grads] Matt's notes from Monday's President/Provost Zoom "webinar"

[Matt Wright]

Good morning, CCRMA staff and grad students.

I attended Monday’s "Virtual Conversation with the President and Provost on Stanford's Response to COVID-19” and took my usual possibly-over-detailed notes.  As the event was open only to current SUNet ID holders I am not sending this to CCRMA's entire users list.

They touched on all the big issues of the current COVID-19 situation including grim financial uncertainty; I recommend reviewing these notes if you weren’t able to tune in on Monday.

Best regards to you all,
-Matt

 -- 
CCRMA Technical Director
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~matt
650-723-4971 x304
Pronouns:  he, his, him



Virtual Conversation with the President and Provost on Stanford's Response to COVID-19
April 6, 2020 (first day of Spring quarter classes)

https://events.stanford.edu/events/874/87472 <https://events.stanford.edu/events/874/87472>
https://osep.stanford.edu/events/conversation-president-and-provost-stanford-s-response-covid-19-coronavirus <https://osep.stanford.edu/events/conversation-president-and-provost-stanford-s-response-covid-19-coronavirus>
Stanford Daily summary article:  https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/04/06/during-zoom-forum-administrators-outline-uncertain-future/ <https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/04/06/during-zoom-forum-administrators-outline-uncertain-future/>

[Persis has cello cases in the background
Matthew Tiews intro
Attendee chat disabled]

MTL (= Marc Tessier-Lavigne):
“There have been many written communications”
First some thanks: each of us, people with health concerns, those caring for children and elders , Russel Furr & all members of emergency operations center
Special welcome to students.  “It’s a significantly changed quarter…. We’re thinking about you today.”
Stanford Medicine: colleagues on front lines, working around the clock, enormous planning…
Reaffirm support for all members of community, especially Asian and Asian-American scholars, staff, faculty - reaffirm support.

3 points providing context:
1. Unprecedented uncertainty in all aspects of our lives.  We don’t have answers to all questions right now.
2. Overarching objectives: support community, position Stanford for recovery, do our part to contribute to fight against COVID-19
3. University has to make difficult decisions.

Medicine
Clinical trials for antiviral drug
One of first places to set up diagnostic test for presence of virus
Faculty working hard on blood tests to see if people have been exposed (maybe immunity?)

Engineering:
Trying to 3D print ventilators 

Campus-wide: related issues.  Society, economic issues, staying connected during social distancing
Campus is currently compiling all COVID research on a new website

Longer-term
MTL convening recovery team focusing on aftermath
- How to get out of this
- How to get to a new normal
- Ensure recovery efforts “mesh well” with emergency operations center and long-range vision.


PD (= Persis Drell) “opening remarks”
Joins Mark in expressing appreciation for all that you are doing during this very challenging time

Students “very abrupt transition to a very different spring quarter”
Much extraordinary leadership
“Great leaders created in the crucible of crisis”

Support services continue to be available even though most not in-person
Important to focus on mental and emotional health

Recently wrote a letter on operational & financial issues (https://healthalerts.stanford.edu/2020/04/02/provosts-updates-on-covid-19/ <https://healthalerts.stanford.edu/2020/04/02/provosts-updates-on-covid-19/>); will now expand with additional thoughts 

Unprecedented economic challenge.
Unlike previous downturns affecting primarily markets and endowment payout, this is also disrupting many sources of income across university: Room & board, summer programs, other revenue-generating activities significantly curtailed
Right now appears to be creating a worse financial challenge than 2008-9 economic downturn.

“We do have reserves… and we are actively deploying those reserves right now” to “respond to the immediate needs in front of us,” including pay continuation for employees not able to do their regular work.  

Initial steps to control spending:  salary freeze, hiring pause, decreased discretionary spending, capital projects on hold.


Can we further leverage endowment as part of financial response?
Purpose & Limitations of endowment:  Not a reserve fund; rather it’s 1000s of individual funds created through gifts of donors who wanted to support Stanford activities in perpetuity.  Every year it provides a payout, a reliable income stream for operations: salaries, financial aid, other activities.
Drawing it down has challenges:
1. About 3/4 are legally restricted to specific uses, e.g., endowed chairs.
2. When value is already declining, that leaves less for future income streams.
We don’t know how deep the market decline will go and what that will mean.

Will there be layoffs?  “We will be striving to maintain employment continuity to the degree possible”; right now “I don’t know”
Commitment to be directly in touch
More thanks especially to farsighted staff and faculty who saw things coming and made good suggestions


Questions (moderated by Matthew)

What are the various options being explored for Fall Quarter?
Currently admitting a new class
Will continue to follow guidance of public health officials
Hope to welcome new class to campus in fall
“We simply don’t know what the progression of this virus will be”
Social distancing is hard to do in an undergraduate dorm.

Impacts of COVID-19 on fundraising campaign?
MTL: will take some time to know how it will impact fundraising activities.
Many supporters have been asking how they can help - connecting to opportunities and research and financial aid
Long-range vision “all about accelerating Stanford’s impact in the world”
Crisis has shown how much the world needs what Stanford has to offer.
Remain committed to “foundational” priorities of long-range vision.

Why isn’t Stanford offering pay continuance for subcontracted workers?
Drell: Difficult set of issues.
Decentralized; units across campus hire contractors for the work they need.
Unlike peer institutions, food service workers and custodians in dorms are direct employees.
Need for some services that units contract for has been reduced: empty dorms, staff not using buildings.
“Because we have placed a priority on minimizing the impacts to our regular Stanford workforce, we are not in a position to extend commitments to all the employees of all of our contractors,”
“Many services our contractors provide will be needed again as soon as we resume operations”
Ramp-up will be slow but it will be coming


Recovery team?  Any staff groups?
MTL: Thinking through aftermath of crisis: how to reopen labs, return students to campus.  Also how to incorporate lessons learned in online education, telework.  What will a new normal look like?  How can Stanford lead and contribute to post-pandemic world?
Structure the team to support & align with emergency operations center.
Return to operations in a way that advances long range vision and goals
Have identified issues; will reach out broadly from recovery team to different stakeholders across university to get their input

Comment: when the time comes to bring staff back to campus, local public transit has been gutted and many employees don’t have cars.
MTL: the circumstances keep changing every day.  

Plan for students to retrieve belongings?  What’s the timeline?
“We do have a lot of students’ belongings on campus”
Student affairs and R&DE are working on that issue.
Susie Brubaker-Cole (Guitar hanging from wall in background)
“Point of great stress and concern for students.”
“Planning diligently to figure out how to get you reunited with your stuff.”
Currently under SIP
Hope to schedule time when students who are able can return to campus, pack their things, and take them home,
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a sense yet when the outbreak of the virus will have receded to the point where we could feel it safe, both for individuals and for communities, to return to campus to pack and retrieve things.”
Several students need things urgently: eyeglasses, mediations…. Many have been shipped back immediately; contact them.
Watch emails for more

Why isn’t Stanford providing tuition discounts for online spring quarter?
1. Tuition is heavily subsidized: even in normal times it doesn’t cover the full costs of the education.  Endowment and other revenue that supplements this are now significantly reduced.
2. We believe the value of the education and degree continues to greatly exceed tuition
3. Costs remain
University stands ready to help with hardships via Financial Aid office.
For a student who really feels that the online quarter is not of value you can take a leave of absence; full refund by April 13.

MTL thoughts on trajectory and timeline of crisis given expertise from Genentech etc?
Many different dimensions: Trajectory as disease sweeps through population, how much we can flatten the curve (thankfully county started early with social distancing).  Where peak will occur is still TBD.  Will there be second waves until we achieve herd immunity?  What’s best strategy for public health (“pumping the brakes”)?  Hope is that flattening curve prevents hospitals from being overwhelmed.  
Long term we need treatments and cures.  Long-term prevention is a vaccine, at least a year.
Possibility of treatments is close to the kind of work MTL did previously.  antiviral drug (did he say Remdesivir?), like medications of viral infections like cold sores: attenuate course of disease.
Other antivirals being worked on right now, preexisting small-molecule drugs being tested.  Academic and private sector are developing another strategy based on antibodies.  Announcements by various companies wanting to be in clinical trials by June or July.
Convalescent serum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiserum <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiserum>)
All could reduce severity of disease to become more manageable.
Prevent spread and treatments to reduce severity will play out over several months.
Stanford supporting faculty on projects like that.  Inspiring collaboration in worldwide effort.  “Hopefully it will be counted in months, not years”


Budget questions:
1. Will there be transparency on how Stanford is using endowment and reserves?
2. Timing on knowing more on budget and possible financial decisions?
“Both fine questions”
Reserves being used now to ensure pay continuity for all employees whether or not they currently have work.
Regarding transparency, look at the budget book online if you dare.  “Extremely complicated - not an easy or simple story to tell”
(https://bondholder-information.stanford.edu/pdf/BudgetBookFY20.pdf <https://bondholder-information.stanford.edu/pdf/BudgetBookFY20.pdf> ?)

When will we know more?  Level of uncertainty is unprecedented.  “We will need to start making some scenarios and planning to some scenarios but I don’t think we are confident we will know what the scenario we’re going to be living in will be for months.”  Need to be prepared for scenarios that may come.
Normal budget process had just about come to conclusion; had made decisions for FY 21 in early March.  Did not formalize those decisions because saw they were entering period of uncertainty.  Will be going back to units with some scenarios.


Suggestion for MTL: staff summer recess to reduce expenses?
Recess: will take it up with HR and other leaders.  “Looking at all scenarios now for the months going forward”

Updates on commencement plans and other university events?
We know it’s important.  Deeply disappointing to postpone.
Already committed to holding an on-campus commencement celebration for 2020 graduates at some point in the future.
Will celebrate graduates in June 2020, “will not replace commencement but we do want to mark the occasion”

[Elizabeth Zacharias briefly appears, says nothing]

Research:  is funding from state+federal govt. being pursued to offset losses?
MTL: following closely everything happening in Washington and will at State level.  $2T package has gone through.  Stanford will receive some stabilization funds.  CARE Bill stabilization funds will help but not enough.  Some incremental funding to support COVID-19 research.
Applied for FEMA funding.
“Incredibly welcome but small compared to total impact”

How will social distancing impact labs?
Very focused onv this question: Dean of Research Moller has a team looking at this.
Many in community including grad students and postdocs are eager to return to research
Evaluating lab safety procedures in light of COVID-19
Modeling a staged return to research: minimizing # people in lab at a time, PPE…
“Many things have to be worked out….  We are eager to get back.  We have to do so in a manner that is consistent with public health guidance.”  
No timeline, “as rapidly as we can under the circumstances “

Questions on classes:
“Every time we made a decision, and it felt like the decision was overreaching — we had gone too far, we were being too cautious— it took about 20 have hours for us to come to the realization that if anything, it wasn’t far enough, this has the crisis has moved so fast and our world has changed so fast,”
At this point planning could not be done holding hope for the optimistic 5% chance of being able to hold classes and have students in dorms.
Having students in labs for our research enterprise “can be done safely with controls and caution in the months to come”
Having socially distanced in-person gatherings as we come out of SIP.
Students living in dorms is a very difficult situation: “social distancing needs to be much relaxed for that to be an appropriate choice”
Remember social distancing is to protect society, not individuals.

Sophomore college, Arts Intensives cancelled:  Our highest priority has to be Fall Quarter and our ability to get it as normal as we can if the progression of the disease allows it.  Timeline is really important.  “The distraction, if you will, of holding out the hope that some of these other earlier programs would also be able to be in person starts to get in the way of the focus on the fall,”
Considered online option for SC and Arts Intensive; “not felt to be a productive experience”; seemed wise to cancel.  Allowed significant savings that help a lot with the budget.

With more reliance on Zoom… privacy, data security.  Sr. leadership discussion?  What measures taken to protect user data.
Article last week in Stanford Report described measures being taken by IT group to educate people about options and measures you can take in Zoom meeting.
Zoom itself working very hard to attend to some of the perceived deficiencies.

How to support mental health across university for those living alone or in toxic environments?
PD: really appropriate question as we look to support our community.
CAPS available for services
Fac/Staff health center is available
Encourage individuals to reach out for these resources.
Issues of counsellors being able to work across state lines: working hard to resolve for students off campus.
Individuals need to accept and understand that they may need some support around disruption and uncertainty.

Beyond regular work-from-home activities, can we do other things to help university?
MTL:   Find ways to keep ourselves and one another well, follow social distancing guidelines.  Hard to remain isolated.  Given that, how we interact with others is critically important.  Extend empathy, goodwill, support those under stress (incl. medical and “those that feel under siege”).  Help members of community get though this by being a supportive community to colleagues, friends, students, etc.  Support each other.

How is SIP affecting PD and MTL personally?
PD: “It’s hard, actually.  One of the most consequential events in the history of Stanford University.  Mark and I feel a deep responsibility to institution and people who make up this institution to make measured wise decisions often without enough information to help community come out of this and be strong.”  PD has a 92-YO mother in an assisted living facility and can’t visit her.  Daughter is a medical professional on the front lines in NYC.
MTL: All dealing with combination of chaos, upending, and the isolation on the other.  Mitigating factors: surprising how much connection you can have with friends.  “Cook and Zoom” dinner parties with kids.  “Changed my life dramatically”. Inspired by community coming together.  Maintain bonds of friendship and connectivity with friends and family.
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