Members of the university community,

As you likely know, a total solar eclipse will occur on Monday morning, Aug. 21, passing directly over the Willamette Valley and through Central Oregon on its way across the nation. As a result, Oregon is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of eclipse visitors from throughout the world. In anticipation, federal, state and local public agencies are preparing for significant traffic congestion and engaging in detailed advance safety plans.

Meanwhile, our Corvallis and OSU-Cascades campuses have extensive eclipse festival events planned for Aug. 19-21, including showcases of OSU Space Grant programs, as well as the innovative science and teaching conducted at the university. These eclipse activities include musical performances, public accommodations in our residence halls, and eclipse watch events.

With the travel safety of our students, employees and the public in mind, OSU leaders have decided to limit university operations on Aug. 21 to those providing basic services to the visiting public and those essential to maintaining campus safety and security.

As a result, classes will not be held, Monday, Aug. 21, and most OSU operations and campus buildings will be closed that day.

University divisions located on the Corvallis campus that will be open and have extensive eclipse day plans include:

• Department of Public Safety and Oregon State Police
• Student Health Services
• University Housing and Dining Services
• Memorial Union
• Intercollegiate Athletics
• University Relations and Marketing
• Parking and Transportation Services
• Facilities Services

Meanwhile, OSU-Cascades classes will be cancelled, however all campus buildings will remain open for eclipse programming.  The following OSU-Cascades departments should report to work as assigned:

• Public Safety
• Housing and Dining Services
• Marketing and Communications
• Facilities and Operations, including Transportation
• Business Office
• Information Technology

If you are an OSU employee who is not working that day – as a result of this partial closure – please work now with your manager to prepare for your schedule for the week of the eclipse and/or discuss your leave usage for this closure day. For safety and security reasons, employees who typically work in campus buildings that will be closed on Aug. 21 should not seek to work from that campus location on the day of the eclipse closure and are encouraged to use leave or work from home as appropriate.Below is general employee information regarding the eclipse closure. Additional employee information and workplace FAQ’s will be added to the OSU eclipse web page this week.

• Unclassified non-exempt employees may take paid leave (vacation or comp time); work from home, if appropriate; request leave without pay; or work with their supervisor or manager to organize their schedule to work a full week over the remaining four days of that week.
• Classified employees may take paid leave (vacation, personal or comp time); request leave without pay, or work with their supervisor or manager to request an irregular or flexible work schedule for that week.  An Irregular or Flexible Work Schedule Request form is not required to be completed for the week of Aug. 20 to accommodate the closure on Aug. 21, but may be referred to for conditions of employment (http://oregonstate.edu/admin/hristeam/irrflex.pdf).
• Unclassified exempt employees, who are scheduled to work at any time during the week of Aug. 20, do not need to take leave on Aug. 21. If an employee is scheduled to be off (such as for vacation) for the entire week of Aug. 20, the employee would record appropriate use of leave (such as for vacation) on Aug. 21.

If you have questions about scheduling or leave usage, please contact Employee Relations for assistance at Employee.Relations@oregonstate.edu.

I also encourage you to engage with the many university employees and students, who are making plans for OSU Space Grant Festival activities in Corvallis, the Bend Eclipse Experience and the Orange & Black Eclipse Festival in Central Oregon. These events will serve as a launch to OSU150 – the university’s celebration of its 150^th anniversary as a public university.

Sincerely,

Mike Green

Interim Vice President

Finance and Administration