Dear University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Community,

In the past two weeks, you have received nearly daily information about the university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor’s stay-at-home order announced Friday may have created additional questions for you. We understand, in these unprecedented and unexpected times when it seems almost nothing is normal, uncertainty about pay and benefits only adds to the stress everyone feels.

We write to share our COVID-19 Pay Continuation Protocol, which ensures all our employees have the pay and benefits security that we promised and that you expected, and to be clear that pay and benefits will not be affected by any COVID-19-related policies or changes.

We also want to make clear that our goal is to have as few people physically on campus as possible. We have instructed deans, directors and department heads to reduce on-site staffing to as few as possible and to use on-call, rotation and other options to ensure that everyone can avoid contact with others as much as possible. We are closing or greatly limiting access to many buildings across campus and providing services such as counseling services and business operations by phone and online.

We are working to keep everyone safe while we continue fulfilling our missions.

Please be assured, the pay and benefits for your current appointment will continue without interruption. Thank you for your patience, your compassion and your continued excellent work in this unprecedented time.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor

Andreas C. Cangellaris
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost