We never expected we could. A lot of learning in terms of how our community can act together, and that was across all parts of our community. And that has been one of the and the samenings, time we have learned things that are challenging, things like online commencement, trying to do more commencements for may more commencements for may and december. Those are a few things we have been learning. Steve how will the online commencement look this weekend . Secretary burwell we are very excited about the online commencement. Tower 2020charge graduates, all 3000 of them, in my home. My provost also did his part. We are fortunate this year that we have fess Henry Louis Gates professor Henry Louis Gates, many of you may know, incredible professor from harvard, many of you may have seen his Television Series about finding his roots, and he will be speaking, in an incredible address. And as part of the commencement ceremony, we asked members of the community to take short messages, everyone from lonnie bunch, American University alumni who is head of the smithsonian, to susan rice, who is a part of our school of international service. There is a large group. And at the end, we have performances from some of our students, as well as making sure you can see all the named of graduates all the names of graduate. We tried to put something together to make this special day memorable, not in the way our students were expecting, but in a way that will make them feel special and celebrated. Steve in his remarks to the class of 2020, tom hanks said to those students, you did not choose this, but you are the chosen ones. What are you hearing from students, and what are you telling them . Secretary burwell one thing we tried to communicate a lot with students, faculty and staff, communicate and make sure, as we were making decisions, we put those decisions out quickly to the community. So we communicated, and there are two parts to almost any communication. The first part is a real recognition of how challenging this is, this is challenging for everyone and we cant recognize that enough, that different people are facing different challenges, and recognizing that , in any communications you are making sure people understand that we appreciate how challenging this is for many people in different ways. And the second part of our Committee Case and is, what are specific issues, and we communicated about going online. Our provost communicated many times about that to faculty, we communicate it to our students, we cascade our communications to make sure students know how to do courses, how to get the advice they need, when we made decisions about how to do grading, how to do commencement, those decisions went first to the graduates, so we have been communicating about many, many things, as each day there are more and more decisions made. Steve let me turn to the School Newspaper and this headline, a you will be open in the fall, whether in person come online or hybrid classes. The story points out a decision will be made next month. Walk us through the process of that decision. What will you take into account . Secretary burwell when we think about that decision, three principles have been guiding all the decisions we have been making through this process. The first is the health and safety of our community. The second is how we best achieve our mission, scholarship and learning. We ate third is, how do American University engage and serve our broader immunity. Importantrsity, it is we think about the broader dcnth of our community, the the health region, the districts of maryland and virginia region, and we think about that from a health and economic perspective. Those principles guide any of our decisions. This decision, we were thinking about in terms of, when do we have as much information as possible . And at that point, we are at the point where we believe that we have to have made a decision, because we continue to gain information about everything about trends and stability and how this virus passes, two issues about testing and advances in testing and best practices of social distancing. Those are the two lines we are trying to meet, and as we said, we will make that decision by mid june in terms of what we do for the fall. And those are the guiding principles. Right now we are using a series of task forces to bring together voices of our faculty. We need to campus life, we need to hear from students, from parents, so we are using different structures, a task force on what we are doing in the fall, a task force around retention and enrollment, task force focused on safety and health and one that is focused on workforce issues. Things will be impacted by what is happening in our region, in terms of our faculty and staff. So we are using those processes, making sure those group are tied together and they are incorporating guidance from those that these decisions will impact. Steve you have a unique background, having served as secretary of health and human services. How do you apply what you sars, ebola, and the the obama during administration, when i say sars civid2. Rring to sars secretary burwell when i think about the issue, we quickly moved to move our students off campus. There are a number of lessons, but probably the most important thinks aboutow one Infectious Diseases and whether this pandemic or other epidemics or other spreads of infection disease in a framed way in terms of prevention, detection and response, and also knowing that in these situations, while we talk about the curves and flattening the curves, we know pandemics have a trajectory, but dont know what that looks like. So there is always going to be changes. The other thing about this virus so it is new, it is novel, we would be learning. One has to remember that you are going to be moving along those lines, so your Decision Making needs to have a lot of option analogy options. My previous back ground me to want to act quickly because i knew density would be a problem and could put undue burden on the Health Care System in washington dc. When we think about all the students we had here in close proximity, if there was an outbreak that spread through them, the pressure that would put on the dcc Health Care System would be great. Steve and you closed down even a week or so before d. C. Shut down, correct . Secretary burwell that is correct. Part of that was i wanted to make sure our students were safe. One could see what was happening with regard to this. This was a highly transmissible virus, so you wanted to make sure we were protecting our community as much as possible, and contributing to what was happening in the district of columbia. Steve Sylvia Burwell is joining us for home from her home in washington, resident of American University, graduate of harvard, served as a rhodes scholar, served in the obama and clinton administrations. From your standpoint, has this pandemic forever changed tire education . Secretary burwell i think that is something excuse me [laughter] adam withf us, we are our families. Our children are 10 and 12 and that was our son matthew, who is getting ready for bed. You might be able to see my dog on my screen. Has this forever changed tire education . Next twoing to see the years are going to be romantically changed. We are going to learn a lot during that period about how we think about what we do. At American University, we had already been pursuing Online Learning and had quite a few classes. Our online mba is in the top 20 in the nation, so there may be some acceleration. And i think we are going to learn about how to use different tools. We are getting feedback now about the importance of facetoface and residential learning, so there are going to be a number of learnings. Will it forever change . One of the biggest changes will come from the virus and social distancing, but also the Economic Impact and what that will mean for universities. We spentan university, 27 million and that just takes us through decisions to the summer. Steve lets take phone calls. Polly joins us from wilmington, north carolina. This is ahope question you can solidify. Are we overestimating the amount of deaths from covid, or underestimated . There was a gentleman who called this morning, anthony from richmond, virginia, who said he understood the cdc has a guideline that doctors can say somebody died of covid if it is assumed they had covid. I understood you have to have a confirmed test that somebody has can claim thatu that is a covid19 case. Given conflicting information, is there a way we can know for sure we are getting an accurate account of deaths caused by the covid19 virus . Steve thank you. Based on your time at hhs, do you know that . Secretary burwell i do not know exactly what the cdc is using is as theinition using definition to count. It is my experience that one is extremely careful about how one counts these deaths. The current numbers in terms of the numbers of deaths, like those reported at the beginning of this session from johns hopkins, those are not overestimated that all. Onassumption and guess based everything i know, i am not there every day looking at numbers and learning about the numbers, but that is my expectation. You can see what will be the deaths going forward, we see a range of estimates and those estimates depend on our behaviors. When one fights and infectious us,ase, it involves all of individuals and citizens all the way through our government. So what happens in the future is dependent on our actions. But i would be confident in the number of confirmed deaths. That is a number i feel comfortable with. I am not at cdc, cdc used to report to hhs, so i dont see it every day and understand the exact decisions, but i would feel comfortable with that. Steve how many undergrads and graduate students at au . Secretary burwell at American University there are 13,000 students total. That breaks down to 8000 undergrads and 5000 grad students. There a coordinated effort among washington universities on moving ahead . Secretary burwell there is an Organization Called consortium and includes some universities likede d. C. , in maryland, montgomery college, or virginia, like george mason, and we Work Together and are working together to make sure we are working with local governments also. Because one of the things about a university is, we are very interrelated in terms of what is happening in our region. American university, other than the government we are the fifth largest employer in the district. Perspective,oyer we are a part of what is happening. When you had all the universities, imagine how large that is. From aperspective health perspective, we are and haveand hv density and that is important. The other thing is, when we we allur students back, like the fact we have students from all over the United States and the world. So that will be important as we think about when we moved to recover. Steve mike is joining us from south carolina. Good evening you are on with president Sylvia Burwell. Caller i wonder what your thoughts are on the administrations continued trying to reduce the medicare requirements associated with assisted living and nursing insofar as infection 41 they have to have parttime and or fulltime the periodicon surveillance of infection Disease Control in assisted living and nursing homes. Secretary burwell i am not as familiar as i used to be with changes in the regulations and the rulemaking with regard to assisted living facilities and nursing homes. This was a place where we did place priority, because one of the angst you want to do is, it helps both health and the cost of health care, making sure facilities are able to meet their standards, and we are seeing that. Places across the country that are doing ok, and have hadcilities that a highly transmissible virus, but helping and supporting those institutions through regulatory and other means is important. I am sorry i am not familiar with all the actions. Steve from palm beach gardens, florida, past, good evening caller number one, i believe the covid good evening. I believe the covid19 death count is accurate. I believe the administrations denial, how does that affect money if you go to homebased schooling . Secretary burwell at the universities, some funds have been moved to universities, but for most universities, we are highly tuitiondependent, so enrollment is a very important part of that. A number estimates by of organizations that observe and interview students that an roman changes could be up to 20 . That becomes a challenge. With regard to federal funding for students, half of the money that Congress Passed is money that is to go to student, so that is an important thing. The impact on students in terms of the government continuing to do programs, but in terms of the universitys ability to do Financial Aid on top of other things, is impacted by the tuition. Comes in. And as we think about decisions students are to make, there are decisions they may make to health and safety, related to proximity, so we are going to have to watch what is happening in that space. Higher education is a place were not as much attention has been paid. Everyonerting to as focuses on what we will do in the fall, but many institutions are going to be challenged as we try to support our students affordable higher education. That is going to be a real fat a real challenge. As we look at the economic difficulties so many families are going to be facing, and we as institutions are going to be facing, because other places, whether it is airlines, whose business has dropped, there may be changes in our enrollment, which is very important to us. Dr. Anthony fauci at nih said this is not going to be a light switch, it is going to be a valve that is what to slowly reopen. So for higher education, the au campus, what will that look like into fall and winter, and what are warning signs you would look at in terms of whether you need to retreat because hotspots are growing . Secretary burwell the first step for us will be recovery of faculty and staff. We are hopeful that will occur in the summer. Back, figuring out that part, and as we start thinking about students in the fall, as you indicated from your quotation from our newspaper, we are evaluating different based on where we are in the virus projection. Doing, what we are thinking about alternatives and making sure we are, whatever the situation from a health perspective, able to continue with the work that we do. And some of that may need to be online, some facetoface, and we are planning for all options as we go forward, and will make a decision on what we think that is going to look like most likely in midjune. Wewe think about signals, are fortunate. American university. This year we had the most applications ever, 20,000 applications. That is a great way to go into a situation like that, as we work through questions about what we are going to do. One thing we are focused on is making sure we reach out to parents and families and hear their questions. We have done lots of webinars to make sure we understand what is on families minds, what they are thinking about, working with students to understand how they experienced the end of the semester, and for those new students who we just expect just accepted, hearing what their concerns are. Steve do you worry there will be a drop off and that those who accepted will decide not to come because of these changes . Secretary burwell that is something we all have to consider. We are working to make sure everyone understands why we believe American University for those students we accepted is the right place, and the right time. What to continue our mission and are focused on providing a high quality experience, even in springtime when we had to switch very quickly. All our advising went online. We had even more advising than we do, because we knew that students were about to have many, many questions. Small groups of students were having certain challenges, whether it was hardware, challenges in conductivity, we were working student by student to make sure we could help those students get through our new challenges. Steve here is a look at the timeline. March 12, classes and American University moved online. Students left campus about a week later, march 23. Summer classes moved online april 3. Firsteverekend, the virtual commencement for the American University students. Us from joining maplewood, new jersey. Good evening. Good evening. Au alumnus, class of 2017. What is your advice to students who are trying to figure out plans for the fall . On title ixthe rule enforcement released by the department of education today, what will you commit and what theau do to make sure that spirit of title ix is upheld . Secretary burwell with regard to students, i would suggest staying close, making sure you are reading, because we update as soon as we have information. Make sure we know what is on your mind, and plan. Plan to come forward and continue. So students who are in the middle of their progress, plan to come back. We are working to make sure we moved internships to virtual internships, we are working on the classroom experience, the curricular experience, in a world where there is social distancing and where there may be changes. I encourage students to stay in touch, raise questions and plan to go forward. With regard to the title ix issue, the title ix issue has to do with issues of Sexual Assault on campuses, and these are very serious, and we take them very seriously at American University. And at universities across the country, it is a very important area of focus. At American University, we have won some awards and i believe this is a place where one needs to focus on continue to do better. With regard to the regulation just announced, it was a 2000 page rulemaking. Many concerns were expressed in the middle of the rulemaking process. We are reviewing it now, so i wouldnt want a comment on the content until we have gone through that, but i will say august 14 implementation date with the university is in havingdle of covid19, been at the office of management and budget and where rulemaking comes through, and then at the department of health and human maker, i a large rule sat on all sides of this, and it is extremely unusual in normal circumstances that you would put up that type of implementation date. We are going to review it but for now we will stick with it. This is an important issue that we need to make sure we are doing right. There are concerns and i want to take time to read it. Steve we go to esther in orange county, california, you are on the air with president Sylvia Burwell of American University. Caller thank you for taking my call. I am a college instructor, a community college, public and this doesnt have to do with students as much as it does with us as professionals. Even though i have been Teaching Online for a lot of years, i have had to lose had to learn how to use zoom, learn new platforms. And covid19 has really made a difference, it has dampened collegiality, collegial interaction. I would like your response on that. Secretary burwell i am glad you raised it, because this issue of the faculty is a really important one, and making sure we are providing appropriate support for the faculty. And that is a broad range, that is about how to teach online, it isnt just moving your course online, it is different in terms way. W to engage in this we have run a lot of sessions in terms of training and learning for our faculty to make sure they have the tools they need. On systems our faculty has suggested, a buddy system, in terms of supporting each other. Today our head of online put out additional supports we are going to do for people in their curricular development, and also think about the fact many of our faculty are like me, you have two children at home so you are trying to balance your fulltime work the homeschooling you need to do with your children. All thosesupport for different pieces is a really important part of the puzzle that we had to work through during this time. We are on line for the summer, so that continues for summer, and as we plan for what could happen in the fall. We are planning for all the front sorts of approaches right and we have to have that as something we know to have the resources you are talking about the support our faculty. This is challenging, and recognizing how hard it is for our faculty to make these transitions is important. Steve what has been the bigger challenge, educating those faculty members were homeschooling your children or homeschooling your children . Secretary burwell i actually dont speak spanish. One of my daughters is in the middle of the class in spanish. I am learning that now. I did take latin a few years ago. Andy we were doing heat issues of convection. I had to refresh myself on science. Being instructed by people who are probably better than my own instruction for my children. Steve and putting on your hat as former secretary of hhs, how long is this new normal going to last . The vaccine will be the cure, but based on your experience, understanding this process, what do you think we are looking at . There is thewell situation that exists now, the , thel distancing we have level of stayathome is extreme, and i think that will evolve. But what will become normal is going to be very different, when we think about how to make sure we dont overburden our Health System. We have to get to a place where our Health System can take care of the cases we have. Foresee a situation in the u. S. Where we are going to zero anytime soon. And as we look at the trajectory of this timetable of change, there are two Different Things we are wrestling with. What is the virus and making sure we are getting to a place where he can handle the virus and the damage it is causing to health and the economy, and then there is the second issue, that is the economy, and went we are going to seek recovery from that. And until we can get a vaccine that is broadly and widely implemented, we are going to be in a situation where this is the long haul and we will be in a changed norm for at least a year and most likely more. Joining usia burwell from home with a cameo appearance by her son. We thank you for being with us, president of a announcer President Trump leads the White House National day of Prayer Service this afternoon. We will have live coverage at 4 00 eastern here on cspan. Announcer washington journal primetime, a special evening addition of washington journal on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. Our guests are dr. Jeremy faust, an emergency medicine physician at brigham and Womens Hospital in boston, on how the excess deaths rates could show leaders it is safe to begin relaxing the coronavirus restriction. Also joining the program, dr. Gary simon, director of the Infectious Disease departments at George Washington universitys hospital and medical school, on the latest treatments for the virus. Join the conversation tonight on washington journal primetime at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Announcer sign up today for cspans newsletter, word for word, providing new updates daily to the coronavirus Pandemic Response from state governors, the White House Task force briefings, and important updates from congress. Sign up today, it is easy. Cspan. Org connect and enter your email in the word for word signup box. Announcer new York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a temporary state ban on residential and commercial evictions continue through august. In his daily coronavirus briefing, Governor Cuomo talked about other steps to help new yorkers who are struggling financially. Gov. Cuomo good morning