While many students, staff, and faculty members have now returned to 可乐视频 for the first time since March 2020, a crew of more than 200 employees per day has held the campus down since early in the pandemic.聽
New York State may have been under pandemic restrictions, with most of the college鈥檚 3,800 employees working from home for the better part of the last year and a half, but for 220 essential workers, trekking to 2900 Bedford Avenue and logging a full day鈥檚 work has remained an everyday thing.
They are security and custodial workers, plumbers and carpenters, staff from the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Food Pantry workers, and many others whose job it was to secure and maintain the campus or other critical functions.
Though many initially found that a once bustling campus felt a little post-apocalyptic when they first returned, most quickly realized that you can get a lot of work done when no one is around.
鈥淲e took advantage of it,鈥� said Scott Hambelton, paint supervisor. 鈥淚f anything, it was beneficial to us. It鈥檚 much easier to paint when the rooms are empty.鈥�
As the first weeks of the fall semester and the gradual return to campus unfolds鈥�20 percent of the college鈥檚 courses are fully in-person, and another 25 percent are hybrid, while most staff are reporting to campus at least one day a week鈥攖he essential workers have barely missed a beat, earning a nod from President Michelle J. Anderson in one of her letters to the campus.
鈥淎s we gradually transition our remote employees back on site, let鈥檚 continue to be grateful for all those who have already had to work on-site over the past 15 months,鈥� she said in a June correspondence with the campus community.
For much of the summer, that work has included preparing the campus for a mass reentry this semester. Here鈥檚 a look at the college鈥檚 essential employees at work.
