Message from the President: Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic - March 15, 2020

To the UDLAP Community:

Continuing with our commitment to inform all members of the university community, promptly and with transparency, of the decisions regarding the university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we inform you that

Yesterday, March 14, 2020, the Federal Secretaries of Health and Public Education, issued Joint Communique Number 3, in which they presented the COVID-19 prevention steps for the national education sector.

According to the regulations of said communication, UDLAP has decided to immediately take the following steps:

1. Cancel all on campus classes, as well as all academic, sports, social, and any other type of event, starting on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
2. The class periods for the different education levels taught at the institution will be as follows
   1. The Licenciatura and Doctorate programs will continue with online classes starting on Monday, March 23, 2020.
   2. The third midterm exam period for Licenciatura students will still be from April 13 to April 18, 2020, as indicated in the school calendar. It is important to mention that every professor will inform, via electronic means, how said evaluation will be carried out.
   3. The Spring I Master’s Programs, both on campus and online, will finish their last week online, according to the school calendar.
   4. The Spring II Master’s Program has remote registration on Thursday, March 26 and Friday March 27, starting classes on March 28. Both on campus and online modalities will be taught online.
   5. The Spring Break period will continue, including the suspension of academic activities, as specified in the school calendar, from Monday, April 6 to Saturday, April 11, 2020. At the end of the vacation period, our academic programs will continue online until further notice.
   6. The date that on campus activities will resume will depend on decisions made by the federal government, regarding the benefits of continuing safely as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves in Mexico.
3. Teaching and administrative staff will continue all normal university campus activities until further notice. During the week of March 17-20, we will evaluate home office options for all of those who may carry it out. We will advise personnel regarding this working modality in each corresponding case on March 21 at the latest.
4. During the week of March 17-20, the Department of Medical Services and Sports Rehabilitation will maintain the defined protocols to control and follow-up possible cases, as well as their regulation services for the UDLAP Community. If you have flu symptoms, with body aches, cough, and unabated fever, we ask you to go to Medical Services for evaluation and attention.
5. In order to provide Residential College students with enough time to carry out their exit in an orderly fashion and without rushing, the period to vacate their dorms will be extended to Sunday, March 22, 2020. The rooms will continue to be assigned to each student until the date scheduled in the University’s original school calendar. As indicated in this Calendar, the deadline to remove belongings from Residential Colleges is Friday, May 22, 2020.

The actions mentioned above do not represent in any way that the university will suspend activities. They are a result of the decision made by the Secretary of Public Education and as a recommendation of the Secretary of Health to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our country. Therefore, we recommend that all community members respect the concept of “preventive isolation” during the established period of March 20 – April 20, 2020, avoiding mass events and maintaining an adequate social distancing in all activities.

Once again, we urge you to take note of all announcements and official information regarding resuming on campus classes, and the normalization of our institution’s activities, which will be communicated through UDLAP institutional media – UDLAP Informa, email, and social networks – and will be included in the website www.udlap.mx/covid19/ which was specifically created to verify official announcements starting on Saturday, March 14, 2020.

Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista

President