Campus update for June 19, 2020

June 19, 2020

Dear students,

President Steve Bahls recently sat down for a virtual interview with the Observer to discuss his contract extension, current plans for Augustana's reopening and the new Presidential Racial Justice and Equity Fund. 

An excerpt about the future: "I would ... ask students to be willing to live with a little ambiguity here for a while in terms of the details of what it is going to look like (with) respect to athletics, choir and large group gatherings. We are not going to jump the gun and make determinations about what to do next fall until we have the guidance from the state of Illinois.

"... One thing I learned in law school is you don’t make decisions until all the facts are in evidence. Not all the facts are in evidence yet."

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Today's updates:

• Dr. Drick Boyd will be the speaker in our second Racial Justice and Social Change Campus Conversation. It begins at 1 p.m. CDT Tuesday, June 23. Register.

• Make a Viking Connection this summer! Alumni are available to share advice on careers, industries, employment trends and organizations within their areas of expertise. Here is how to meet them. 

• The summer solstice – when the sun is at its highest point in the sky each year – occurs at 4:44 p.m. CDT tomorrow. It's a big deal in Sweden, so if you Vikings would like to celebrate, there is a Midsummer livestream, starting now. With a Maypole and all. 

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Juneteenth, celebrate here

Learn more about Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

There will be two celebrations in the Quad Cities tonight, one in person and one virtual.

The House, a church at 2623 5th Ave., Rock Island, will hold an outdoor event starting at 7 p.m. And Friends of MLK will sponsor a virtual Juneteenth event at 5 p.m. Tracy White, one of the organizers, talks about the event in the video above with Montse Ricossa '19.

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