Wednesday, September 23, 2020 | 9:49 AM

 

Dear LGS Community,

 

I write with an important matter requiring your review and action.

 

The Laney Graduate School Executive Council passed the resolution below regarding graduate student teaching and research activities on Election Day, November 3, 2020.  

 

Please take a few moments to read the resolution and determine within your graduate programs how to best implement this plan with minimal disruption.

 

You may also visit the Emory Votes Initiative website here for important, bipartisan information about voter registration, deadlines, early voting, absentee voting, and Election Day voting.

  

 

Resolution of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies Executive Council

 

Teaching and Research Activities on Election Day

 

The Executive Council of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies understands that civic engagement is a cornerstone of democracy. We, therefore, recommend that Emory University  create an official Presidential Election Day holiday to facilitate, in perpetuity, such civic engagement for all students, staff, and faculty.

 

In the event the university does not declare an official Presidential Election Day holiday, we believe that graduate students who are eligible to vote should have an unfettered opportunity to exercise their right to vote and to participate in meaningful civic activities of their choice on this day. To enable students to participate in such activities without negative repercussions to their academic progress, we recommend that all faculty teaching graduate classes: (1) suspend mandatory synchronous class meetings or activities on November 3, 2020, or (2) provide a mechanism for students to make up missed synchronous class meetings or activities that occur on November 3, 2020. We recommend that all faculty who have labs suspend graduate student responsibilities in the lab: (1) from 8 AM – 5 PM on November 3, 2020, or (2) for a minimum four-hour block on November 3, 2020. We recommend that all faculty who have teaching assistants suspend teaching-assistant responsibilities on November 3, 2020. Finally, we recommend that all graduate programs allow graduate students who are teaching or co-teaching to suspend mandatory synchronous class meetings or activities on November 3, 2020, or (2) provide a mechanism for students to make up missed synchronous class meetings or activities that occur on November 3, 2020.

 

Approved by the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies Executive Council, September 22, 2020.

 

• Ellen Idler, Chair
• Judith Evans Grubbs
• Judith Fridovich-Keil
• Dilek Huseyinzadegan
• Andrew Jenkins
• Jessica Sales
• Bonna Wescoat
• Kate Yeager
• Kathryn Yount 

---

Watch your distance.  Wash your hands.  Wear a mask.

_____________________________________________

Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D.


Vice Provost for Academic Affairs – Graduate Studies


Dean, James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies

Professor, Rollins School of Public Health


Emory University