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Welcome to the start of the fall 2020 semester!  For returning faculty, staff and students, these early days of the semester are a time of excitement and fresh beginnings.  For many other students, this is a special day that marks the first steps of their academic lives at Canisius.

Planning for this fall semester was like no other at Canisius and the college’s Covid-19 Recovery Task Force worked tirelessly throughout the summer to implement protocols ensuring a safe return to campus. Complete information about all the college’s reopening plans are available here. Below are a few highlights of the new safety protocols:

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):

Canisius College has distributed disposable facemasks, nitrile gloves, face shields, isolation gowns and coveralls to designated areas of the college campus, for faculty, staff and students.

In addition, for the protection of the college community, acrylic partitions have been installed at transaction counters in various locations on campus, including the Student Records and Financial Services counter, the library circulation desk, and the bookstore counter to name a few.

Facemasks are required at all times on campus when inside buildings and outside when proper social distancing is not possible. The following locations will have extra PPE supplies for any faculty, staff or student who may have forgotten their facemask, or have a need for additional PPE supplies. Please note, supplies are limited.

  • Faculty and staff should please go to the Human Resources Office, Old Main 100, the Office of Academic Affairs, BA-103, or contact Sharon Federico, executive associate in student affairs, at ext. 2130 to inquire about extra supplies.
  • Students should visit the Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ Library, the Office of Student Life in the lower level of Dugan Hall, or the Office of Student Affairs, located at Old Main 102, if they need any additional supplies.

Hand Sanitizing Stations:

New hand sanitizing stations are located in buildings throughout the campus. Free standing, touchless, sanitizer dispensers are placed at main building entrances, and wall mounted dispensers are available in corridors and other common areas. Maintenance staff will monitor these, but please submit a work order with Facilities Management if you notice a sanitizer station has been depleted.

Facilities Traffic Flow:

Signage has been installed throughout the campus to designate the flow of traffic into, out of, and through buildings. Access into all buildings on campus requires an individual to swipe in using their Canisius ID card. The card readers are located outside of designated building entrances. Those doors have been identified with a sign indicating “Building Entrance.”

Stairways inside the buildings have been designated for unidirectional traffic flow, i.e., movement in a single direction to help mitigate exposure to infection and reduce congestion. In general, center stairwells have been designated for travel “UP,” and stairs located at the end of corridors have been designated for travel “DOWN.” Please refer to signs located at the entrance to each stairwell. Elevator capacities have been limited to a maximum of two persons and face coverings are required. The following plan has been developed to illustrate the location of ingress points for campus buildings.

Cleaning Information:

  • Offices: Paper towels and disinfectant spray are available for faculty and staff to use to maintain a clean and disinfected workspace. Please contact the Facilities Management office located on the lower level of Bagen Hall to request additional supplies.
  • Classrooms: These areas will be cleaned and disinfected daily.
  • Restrooms and high touch surfaces in corridors will be cleaned two times during the day shift and two times during the evening shift.

New Waste Collection Procedures:

  • Offices: Trash receptacles were removed from offices and employees are being asked to collect and dispose of their garbage as generated in the trash bins centrally located in the hallway. Recycle bins remain in offices, but employees are being asked to please empty bins as needed in designated recycle bins closest to their office.
  • Classrooms: Trash and recyclable receptors were removed and the occupants of the classroom are required to dispose of trash or recyclables in the containers located outside of the classrooms.

Directions for Vendors and Guests:

All vendors and guests of the college must be essential to institutional operations in order to receive approval to enter a college building. Guests needing access to college buildings must work with the sponsoring or host department at the college to determine access.

Swipe Access:

The campus is currently locked to ensure the safety of faculty, staff and students. Your campus ID cards will give you access to the building that you are permitted to enter (i.e. your office, residence, dining hall, KAC, or classroom). It is expected that you have your identity card on you at all times to ensure access to your areas.

Submitted by: College Communications