This is a deeply emotional and sad time with the recent deaths by suicide affecting our campus. We are mobilizing additional mental health resources in the short term and establishing a task force to address mental health and suicide prevention in the longer term, but here we want to focus our update on how we are adjusting activities to limit the use of Agnes Arnold Hall.

• For the remainder of the week, classes at Agnes Arnold Hall will be held remotely.
• Beginning Monday, March 27, and for the rest of the spring semester, classes that met in Agnes Arnold Hall will be relocated. We will provide additional information once the relocation details are finalized.
• Classes at Agnes Arnold Auditorium, which is the building adjacent to Agnes Arnold Hall, will be held remotely for the remainder of this week and will return to in-person instruction on Monday, March 27. 
• CASA testing and all student organization activities and reservations in Agnes Arnold Hall are being relocated for the rest of the semester. Students impacted by these changes will be contacted directly.
• We are working on a plan to restrict access to Agnes Arnold Hall for the rest of the semester. Effective at 5 p.m. today, the security presence at Agnes Arnold Hall has been enhanced. As we shared with you yesterday, we are evaluating the future of the building. All options are being considered.

To those of you who have been displaced from your classrooms or offices this week, we are working as quickly as possible to get you back to in-person instruction.

To all in our community, we understand these events may impact you in a variety of ways. We hope you will take the time to take a breath, check in with friends and family, and take care of yourself. Some of these resources have been previously shared with you, but we feel it important to reiterate these services and also provide some new resources that we may be helpful:

STUDENTS

• Students will soon receive a follow-up communication with a full list of expanded mental health services. All UH students also now have 24/7 FREE access to counseling, individual crisis intervention, support for stress, depression, family and relationship concerns and substance abuse.
• You can request a reasonable academic accommodation through Justin Dart Jr. Student Accessibility Center.
• The excused absence policy is also available online.

EMPLOYEES

• Equal Opportunity Services (EOS) is available to facilitate reasonable workplace accommodations.
• A counselor is available to meet informally with individuals and small groups of employees at the Office of Human Resources from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) and virtual appointments are available through the Employee Assistance Program website.

We are committed supporting you at this time. If you have ideas on what else can we be doing, please email us your thoughts and ideas to coogscare@uh.edu.

Sincerely,

Diane Z. Chase
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
provost@uh.edu

Raymond S. Bartlett
Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance
cfo@central.uh.edu

Daniel M. Maxwell
Interim Vice President for Student Affairs
uhdsa@uh.edu