Classes are due to resume and the Davis and Sacramento campuses are scheduled to be fully open Monday, Nov. 26, after more than a week of cancellations and closures prompted by smoke from the devastating Camp Fire in Butte County.

Campus officials made daily closure announcements Nov. 14-16 and a weekend closure announcement for Nov. 17-18. Then, Sunday evening, Nov. 18, Chancellor Gary S. May announced the closure would last through Thanksgiving break.

“While we had hoped to reopen our Davis and Sacramento campuses on Monday, Nov. 19, the air quality forecasts are not showing enough improvement toward the healthy categories,” he said in a message posted on a running summary of closure-related news on the UC Davis website. “In addition, the Academic Senate leadership has recommended that classes be canceled Monday through Wednesday.”

In an earlier message, campus officials said: “This is new territory, and we acknowledge that we don’t have hard and fast guidelines in place for these types of extreme conditions. We are making the best decisions for the community that we can on a day-to-day basis, using the best available data and input from public health experts.”

Employees deemed essential have been reporting to work throughout the closure, for example, at the Police and Fire departments, residence halls and Student Health and Wellness Center, UC Davis Medical Center and clinical sites, and Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Other employees are tending to the campus’s hundreds of animals.

Compensation and open enrollment

Human Resources provided the following information about compensation, paper paychecks and open enrollment:

• COMPENSATION — Employees in these categories — career, probationary, contract, limited, temporary, per diem, floater, causal/restricted and student employees — will receive their normal pay for times when they were scheduled to work during the closure period.
• PAYCHECKS — For employees who are paid biweekly, Nov. 14 was a payday —  by direct deposit or paper paycheck. Because of the campus closure, Mail Services will not start delivering the paper checks on the Davis campus until Monday (Nov. 26) — but there is a way for employees to pick up their checks before then, by visiting Mail Services will call at 615 Hopkins Road, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. through Wednesday (Nov. 21).
• OPEN ENROLLMENT — The UC Office of the President announced Monday (Nov. 19) that, “at this time, we are not considering extending the deadline.” That deadline is 5 p.m. today (Nov. 20). However, Aaron Locquiao, benefits manager for UC Davis, aid employees may reach out to him directly, by email, if they are unable to complete their transactions by the deadline. Click here to go to the open enrollment website.

HR Bulletin for Campus Managers and Supervisors

FAQ: Finance, Operations and Administration

Student support

The Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs has staff available to assist students whose families have been directly impacted by California wildfires. Case managers can help connect students with resources on and off campus, including, but not limited to, course arrangements, academic advising and housing. Contact the case management team by email or by filing an online report.

Aggie Compass provides a webpage of Crisis Support Resources.

Unitrans

The city-ASUCD bus system has been operating on reduced schedules. One night last week, with ridership nearly nonexistent and the air quality particularly bad, General Manager Jeff Flynn ordered an early shutdown, at 8 p.m.

Today and Wednesday (Nov. 20 and 21), Unitrans is running its Weekend Service. Also on Wednesday, Unitrans will run its Thanksgiving eve shuttle service to Sacramento International Airport — with buses departing hourly from the Memorial Union Terminal, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

After shutting down for Thanksgiving, Unitrans will resume operations with Weekend Service starting Friday (Nov. 23).

Libraries

The 24-Hour Reading Room (Shields Library) and Blaisdell Medical Library have remained open during the closure, and, come this Saturday (Nov. 24), all other UC Davis Library facilities will reopen and resume normal hours and operations. More information is available online.