Dear Students:
This message is addressed to all students in my three classes: English Lit I, History of
the English Language, World Literature..
Beginning Monday, November 5, MSU will resume all regular classes.
Please attend if at all possible. The campus is in fine shape. The buildings are nice and
warm -- I am in my office now, Dickson Hall 325, and it is 70 degrees.
MSU has stated that you can use the athletic facilities to take a shower, etc. and you
only need to show your MSU ID to do so.
All of your favorite places to eat (and all of your least favorite places, whatever they
may be) are open.
I just bought a muffin at Cafe Diem. Really living the good life!
If there were places to sleep, it'd be a great place to stay until power and gasoline
deliveries are restored. Unfortunately, that is not possible. Although, if you have any
friends or relatives near MSU, you should consider asking them to put you up, if you lack
power at home or don't have enough gas to commute.
Public transportation around here is running almost normally today. By Monday it should be
back to normal. I myself will be taking the bus to MSU* in order to save my car's gas in
case of emergencies (and hope there will be none). This gas shortage could continue for
awhile.(* Note, Saturday, November 3: I took the #28 bus today. It came, and arrived,
exactly on time. Very reassuring!)
So we will have classes. Later today I will alter the class schedules and HW assignments
on our class web pages.
* Some -- perhaps many -- students will not have Internet access due to loss of power.
* Some students will not be able to commute to campus because of the gas crisis.
* Some students will be too busy coping with lack of heat, refrigeration, hot water, and
gas to attend classes at all.
* Some students will be helping family, friends, and/or others in their community deal
with the emergency.
For these reasons I will not require written HW assignments until further notice.
Notice the word "require". I will still post HW assignments, and urge you to do
them. They will help you with the class. And I will count them as "extra credit"
at the end of the class.
But -- to repeat -- they will not be "required" until further notice. Certainly
they will not be required this coming week, the week of November 5 - 9.
At the end of next week, probably on November 9, I will inform you again by email whether
HW will again be "required" the following week or not.
Mid-Term Exams: I will NOT give any Mid-Term exams during the week of November 5.
It is pointless to give exams when students are busy coping with the aftermath of the
biggest and most damaging storm in the history of New Jersey.
So, for Monday, November 5: Please do come to class if you possibly can do so.
We will proceed with the altered schedule of readings. As always, bring your textbook(s)
and, if you do them, your HW assignments.
I look forward to seeing many, hopefully most, of you this coming week, on November 5,
November 7, and November 8.
On Friday, November 9, I will inform you about the following week, that of
Monday, November 12.
What we will do that week and subsequent weeks depends upon how soon the residents of
New Jersey, and you, our students, can recover from the effects of the hurricane.
Sincerely,
Grover Furr
English Dept. |