Campus Messages

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., once said that: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy."

Now that the State and USM have provided the green light to begin planning for reopening, the University leadership team is making plans for a safe and gradual process for the resumption of in-person operations. There will not be a single date for the full reopening of the physical campus. Like the statewide plan, our transition will be guided by public health expertise.

I write with heartbreaking news, the loss of the first University staff member from complications due to COVID-19. I share this information with the family's permission.

I write to share the heart-breaking information of the first known death, on April 1, 2020, of a member of our University community due to complications related to COVID-19. I do so with the consent of the family. He is Distinguished University Professor David C. Driskell, a renowned artist, art historian, collector, and curator.

Under the Governor's directive, all Maryland residents must now shelter at home, except to leave for "an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine ... or other necessary purpose." Over one-half of the states are under a similar order. 

On Wednesday, March 25, at 1:30 AM, the U.S. Senate and House leadership, together with the White House, agreed to inject $2 trillion into the economy -- the largest stimulus package in our nation's history.

Governor Hogan announced yesterday that all non-essential businesses in Maryland must close and reminded us that we are all in this together. We must continue to practice important preventive measures and social distancing, if we are to slow the transmission of this pandemic.