Looking ahead: The Campus and Community Advisory Committee's plans for the spring

The Campus and Community Advisory Committee is shifting its focus to continue assisting the UNC community in its COVID-19 response for the coming months.

The committee was developed in the fall to prepare campus for reopening in the spring semester, as well as reflect on decisions of the fall. The committee — made up of a mix of faculty, students and community members — met weekly in the fall and provided recommendations to the University on the spring schedule, mandatory testing and more. 

Now, with the spring semester in full swing, the committee will continue to meet, providing recommendations to fine-tune the University's COVID-19 response plan. 

The committee met last week to receive status updates for COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution, and they advised on improving the testing protocol in place.

Committee member and sophomore Ethan Phillips said the committee will not meet as regularly as last semester, but will still advise on smoothing out plans in the spring semester. 

“I think the challenge is that the policies and the sort of decisions we make are sometimes muddled by implementation,” Phillips said. “Translating some of the large scale decisions into the actual practices of what the students experience is not always perfect.”

While the committee does not have a frequent meeting schedule set forth for the spring, committee members like Richard Watkins are on board to assist this semester when necessary. 

“I am here to serve in whatever way I can,” Watkins said. “This situation is very serious as it develops, and if campus administration sees it fit to reconvene, then I'm here to support them in any way that I can.”

The committee has seen success from their work last semester and has worked hard to implement a robust testing program, Kira Griffith, president of the Residence Hall Association, said. 

“Our committee was very clear from the get-go that we weren't comfortable making a recommendation about spring reopening without a robust testing program,” Griffith said. “That's something that the committee really pushed for and advocated for collectively as a group. I'm proud of that. Of course, there are many kinks that need to be worked out right now, but I think the folks that are leading that charge are really receptive to feedback and are actively trying to address those issues.”

Going forward, Donna Gilleskie, economics department chairperson and committee member, believes the committee’s voice is important in providing equal stakeholder representation on decisions made by the University. 

“I am convicted to be compassionate to all views and to listen well in an effort to help the University make decisions that can be viewed as positive moves forward by everyone: students, administrators, instructors, staff, parents and townspeople,” Gilleskie said in an email. “The folks on this advisory committee have shared and received all such concerns well.”

One situation the committee has addressed so far this semester was long lines at testing sites the first week of classes. Phillips said addressing these situations are exactly why he thinks the committee's advice is useful.

“I think it's important that the committee is going to be continuing to advise on issues as they come up, because we know everything that we decided, even if it sounded perfect in our Zoom meeting, doesn't always look like that on the ground,” Phillips said.

When the time comes to vaccinate University students, committee members like Griffith hope to advise there also. 

“Our hope as well in our advocacy efforts is to make sure that we're addressing concerns that are specific to these (marginalized) communities and being very deliberate about how we plan to implement vaccination into those communities,” Griffith said.

Watkins said while he acknowledges the severity of the situation, he is honored to have worked on a committee that has been successful in combating COVID-19 on-campus.

“On an individual level, I felt extraordinarily humbled to participate in this moment of history in a way that I feel that a lot of situations should be addressed,” Watkins said. “I felt like that was exemplified here with the Campus and Community Advisory Committee.”

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