Covid-19 task force members list remains non-updated on website, Newsline
FILE – In this April 19, 2021, file photo, Keidy Ventura, 17, receives her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in West New York, N.J. States across the country are dramatically scaling back their COVID-19 vaccine orders as interest in the shots wanes, putting the goal of herd immunity further out of reach. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
DePaul’s Covid-19 task force members list remains outdated despite several members changing positions.
After closing campus last spring, DePaul created the task force to monitor Covid-19 in Chicago and on campus.
According to Newsline, this task force was “a group of more than 30 DePaul administrators, staff and faculty who are applying best practices and guidance from medical and public health professionals to the complexities of restarting campus.”
Health sciences professor Craig Klugman is one of the force’s medical professionals, along with Associate Director of Emergency Services Cheryl Hoover and Director of Health Promotion and Wellness Shannon Suffoletto. They are listed as co-chairs of the Community Health Monitoring committee.
This email entailed a list of members and the task force’s committees and subcommittees. However, the list still names former Executive Vice President Jeff Bethke as co-chair along with then-interim Provost Salma Ghanem.
As of June 3, 2021, the list of members, committees and subcommittees has not been updated and cannot be found on the DePaul Coronavirus Updates and Guidance page.
The subcommittees and members are not listed on DePaul’s Covid-19 website. The non-updated list is posted on Newsline.
University spokesperson Kristin Mathews said, “the Covid-19 planning and response task force has evolved over time into a restarting campus operations committee, which Provost Ghanem chairs. Part of that group is a community health sub-committee, which is chaired by Gene Zdziarski, vice president for student affairs.”
Zdziarski replaces Bethke as co-chair along with Ghanem. However, he is currently only listed as the committee chair in the Student Services committee.
Klugman and professor Scott Paeth are the only faculty members on the force, the rest being made up of deans and administrators.
As provost, Ghanem is the chief academic officer under the president and is new to the role, while Zdziarski has been the vice president of student affairs since 2014. Ghanem was appointed provost in early May.
DePaul has held several university-sponsored vaccine events. The university will also require all students to show proof of vaccination to attend campus in-person in the fall.
The task force has been updating their site and on Newsline about vaccine opportunities and Chicago reopening. The most recent post was May 7 about how their vaccine clinic will help reopening in the fall.
The task force aims to have on-campus courses reopen at 75 percent capacity in the fall, while the remaining 25 percent will stay online.
