Looking to provide needed support during the campus shutdown, the ASI Food Pantry was open for two days, and dozens of students utilized its services. Other critical services also were offered during the crisis. (Sacramernto State/Jessica Vernone)Sacramento State, after responding to massive fallout from a wildfire unprecedented in its destruction and lethality, is back up and running, working toward finals and the end of the fall semester, and providing full student services.
The University closed Nov. 13-21 to help shield the campus community from effects of heavy smoke produced by the Camp Fire, a blaze that at last report had burned 153,336 acres and caused 85 deaths. The smoke engulfed huge swaths of Northern California, including Sac State, creating historically bad air quality.
Sac State reopened for limited service on Friday, Nov. 23, and was back at full speed on Monday, Nov. 26. The task at hand is ensuring classes are completed by the Dec. 7 end of instruction, in preparation for finals week Dec. 10-14.
The decision to close campus was difficult, said President Robert S. Nelsen, but necessary to protect the health of students, faculty, and staff.
“Providing a high-quality educational experience is our top priority, and it is never easy to cancel classes and close services that benefit our students and the community,” Nelsen said.
“At the end of the day, however, the health and safety of our Hornet Family is paramount. Students cannot learn, and our faculty and staff cannot work effectively, when their health is negatively impacted. With this in mind, we concluded that we could not remain open.”
University officials began monitoring air quality on Saturday, Nov. 10, when the smoky air forced cancellation of the football team’s home game against Northern Arizona. By Monday, Nov. 12, the Critical Response Team – a group of individuals from all divisions, including academics, public safety, facilities, and student affairs – made the decision to close campus for the following day.
Significant factors contributed to the decision, including overall air quality, which had become unhealthy for all individuals and was consistently worse than initially predicted. The fire was emitting fine particulate matter, also known as PM 2.5, which University environmental health and safety officials said could be especially harmful to breathe.
Testing confirmed that working inside campus buildings under normal operation was safe, but the amount of time spent outside – between classes, traveling between buildings, and walking to and from parking structures – jeopardized health.
Early during the closure, only daily information about air quality was available. That and a desire to limit the impact on academics as much as possible required officials to make day-to-day decisions about whether to close or remain open.
On Sunday, Nov. 18, the team extended the closure through Wednesday, Nov. 21, providing time for faculty to rework courses and allowing air quality to improve.
Nelsen, welcoming back the campus community on Monday, Nov. 26, noted the challenge facing faculty and students, who must refocus their efforts with just three weeks remaining in the semester.
Finals must still be given during finals week, he said, although some deadlines were shifted (students withdrawing from classes, for example), and advising holds were lifted to ensure that all students can meet with their advisors to register for classes on time.
“We all owe thanks and appreciation to our faculty and academic leadership who are putting in significant work to finish the semester strong for our students,” Nelsen said.
After consulting with Ántonia Peigahi, chair of the Faculty Senate, the provost suspended part of the Last Week of Instruction Policy so that instructors can allow assignments not originally listed in syllabi to be submitted during Week 15.
“It’s such a challenge to have lost, in some instances, two weeks of class time,” Peigahi said. “The faculty care so much about the work they do, and this impacts their ability to engage in the teaching and learning that normally take place at this point in the semester.
“And now the challenge for them is to decide, out of all the possible content and learning opportunities, what happens in the remaining two weeks of instruction.”
Peigahi also considered what might come next.
“If these wildfires are the new norm in California, how do we handle such situations in the future?” she asked. “We have to come together as a campus community to respond to events that are beyond our control.”
Beyond acadermics, the University closure hit many activities hard.
Two inaugural campus-wide events – one intended to inspire, the other to aid and support students – had to be canceled. Global Entrepreneurship Week 2018, in part a celebration of Sacramento State’s new Dale and Katy Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, was almost entirely scrapped.
Only the Student Elevator Pitch Competition will be rescheduled. It’s set for 9:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30, in The WELL’s Terrace Suite.
The first Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, part of a CSU-wide effort to provide support and resources for students who face food and housing insecurity, is being rescheduled for the Spring 2019 semester, case manager Danielle Muñoz said.
The only Hunger and Homelessness activity held before the campus closure was the Saturday, Nov. 10, comedy improv show. Attendees donated $130 as well as gently used clothing items to the Student Emergency Grant Fund.
Although the campus was shut down, the Associated Students Inc. (ASI) Food Pantry in Yosemite Hall was open for two days to allow students access to free nonperishable food items and hygiene products. Reuben Greenwald, ASI’s director of Student Engagement and Outreach, reported that 45 students took advantage of the limited operation. Food Pantry staff also handed out 30 Thanksgiving food baskets to students, many of whom help to feed their entire families.
“We only see around 5 percent of our students at the Food Pantry,” said Greenwald. “We know that with awareness, more will come.”
Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) at The WELL was open every day throughout the campus closure for urgent medical care and counseling services, and the pharmacy also remained open. Staff physicians saw 50 to 70 students each day, and two doctors held a town hall meeting at the residence halls to answer students’ questions about the health risks of breathing wildfire smoke, according to Joy Stewart-James, associate vice president for Student Health Services.
Students also were directed to a variety of community resources, including Transforming Lives, Cultivating Success, a mental health crisis respite center, and Wind Youth Services.
With students returning to campus after losing as many as seven days of instruction, individual stress has become a concern. To address that issue, SHCS, with ASI and Active Minds, is dedicating this week to helping students get some sleep.
“Our theme is ‘Sleep WELL,’ and we’re encouraging students to get more sleep and develop healthy sleeping habits for finals,” health educator Lara Falkenstein said.
Among the events is a “Time for a Nap” class from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Wednesday, Nov. 28, at The WELL. Therapy dogs from Gold Country Love on a Leash will drop by for some hugs and nuzzles from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day; dogs provided by the Sacramento SPCA will be in the Universeity Library Breezeway from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29.
The arts also took a hit, with 15 of the School of Music’s concert performances being postponed or canceled.
The Sac State Choirs’ annual Carol Concerts, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1, and Sunday, Dec. 2, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, are canceled. Also off the schedule are Camerata Capistrano, the University’s premier baroque ensemble, which had been scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 9; and the symphony orchestra performance slated for Tuesday, Dec. 4.
Glenn Disney, the school’s events manager, said the loss of two weeks’ rehearsal time proved insurmountable.
“Those concerts are now a week away,” he said. “The instructors felt there wasn’t sufficient time left to pull these concerts together and make a decent showing.”
These changes also were necessary:
- Chamber Music Group: Rescheduled from 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, Capistrano 151 ($10 general, $7 seniors, $5 students)
- A Night in Vienna: Opera Theatre performance rescheduled from 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, to 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, Capistrano Concert Hall ($10 general, $7 seniors, $5 students)
Unaffected ticketed performances include the Jazz Ensembles on Thursday, Nov. 29; the Vocal Jazz Ensembles on Friday, Nov. 30; the Alta Kai throat singers’ world music performance on Sunday, Dec. 2; and the Concert Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble on Wednesday, Dec. 5. All shows begin at 7 p.m. at the Capistrano Concert Hall.
In Theatre and Dance, the second week of performances of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, winner of the 1979 Pulitzer for Best Drama, are rescheduled from Nov. 14-18 to Nov. 28-Dec. 2. Show times are 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, and Thursday, Nov. 29; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. All are at Playwrights’ Theatre (Shasta 101).
The first week of University Dance Company’s Dance Sites Fall 2018 is canceled, and the second week is reduced from five performances to four, all at the University Theatre (Shasta 113). They are at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6; 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7; and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8.
Up-to-date listings can be found on Sac State’s online calendar.
Disruptions to athletics events most notably included the annual Causeway Classic football game being moved to the University of Nevada’s Mackay Stadium in Reno on Saturday, Nov. 17. A scheduled basketball doubleheader featuring the Hornet men vs. Cal Poly and the women vs. Ohio State on Friday, Nov. 16, also was not played.
Brian Berger, Hornet Athletics’ director of media relations, said the parties are looking to reschedule the men’s game, but that the women’s game “won’t happen this year.” Additionally, a scheduled Big Sky Conference volleyball match was canceled when the visiting Northern Colorado team decided because of health concerns not to make the trip and forfeited.
Scott Gephart, Hornet Tickets manager, says refunds are being offered for all events, but that the original tickets must be exchanged for tickets with the new date patrons would like to attend. To do so, email sgephart@csus.edu or hornettickets@csus.edu. – Jonathan Morales, Ahmed V. Ortiz, Dixie Reid