More than 360 participants joined in via Zoom for the all campus forum. The forum took place on May 6, with a group of panel speakers to talk about the protocols that Bakersfield College will implement for the summer and fall sessions. 

The panel speakers included BC President Sonya Christian, Executive Director of Facilities Bill Potter, Interim Director of the Health Center Cindy Collier, Faculty Chair of Physical Science Kenward Vaughn, and Faculty of Kinesiology Zach Peters. 

Christian started off the forum with an update on COVID-19 cases with statistics from John Hopkins University. She then went on to say that BC will continue monitoring the status of COVID-19 cases in order to further protect BC students and faculty. 

“Students, I can tell you Bakersfield College physical campus is closed. We are not planning on opening the classes [. . .] BC is still following the Governor’s stay-at-home [order],” Christian said. 

Potter explained the role and responsibilities that maintenance and operations (M&O) staff for the summer and fall. 

“We came up with a protocol [. . . ] to increase sanitation , increase cleaning, and make sure everybody is safe. And we can’t do that if everyone comes back to campus at the same time,” Potter said. 

Porter also spoke about the closure of buildings and classrooms during the sessions. Only six classrooms will be open compared to the 156, three buildings will be open compared to the 36, and only 14 in-person sections will be open compared to the 2,300.

 M&O will also install hand washing stations to classrooms that do not have sinks, hand sanitizer dispensers will be refilled, and classrooms will be sanitized various times a day. 

Collier explained the responsibility that students and staff have to protect themselves and others while on campus. Anyone on campus must have a mask once they exit their car walking to and from classes, they must maintain at least six feet of distance from others, and they should take their temperatures before making their way to the campus. Anyone with a temperature over 100.4 degrees will not be allowed on campus.

All these new rules and regulations will be added to BC’s code of conduct for the sessions beginning summer. 

“A referral will be given to anyone not following this code of conduct,” Collier said. 

Vaughn spoke on the responsibility the faculty have while teaching on campus. They should create a syllabus statement which outlines procedures for the classroom to avoid any contact with others and to ease the anxiousness of the spread of COVID-19 on campus in the classroom.

He also explained that faculty should be flexible with students. 

“We want people to be protected and know their hygiene, and recognize that it is very important for us because we know that other people cannot do this for us, to be able to maintain a clean workspace, and for people to look out for one another,” Vaughn said. 

Peters focused on the individual responsibility, mainly those in the workout and training rooms. Each student will be required to put on hand sanitizer before entering.  They will not be required to wear protective equipment for high intensity workouts and training, but they will have to sanitize every single piece of equipment used after each use with a different towel each time. 

Also faculty will sanitize all the equipment at the end of each class once everyone has left including counters, door handles and light switches. Towels will be washed every night for safety as well. 

“When it comes to safety, I believe the boxes are being checked but the bonus is that students and staff need to feel safe and that confidence will come from repetition,” Peters said.