Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Personal protective equipment (PPE) including reusable cloth face coverings, refillable
personal hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes will be made available to faculty,
staff and students for the fall semester. Supplies for faculty and staff will be managed
and distributed by building managers. Students will receive their PPE supplies at
the beginning of the semester. In addition to providing PPE supplies to individuals,
public hand-sanitizing stations will be available at the entrance to each building
and sanitizer refill stations will be placed across campus.
For Students
Students will be required to wear facial coverings at all times in classrooms and
other public work or instructional environments.
You may be turned away from a classroom, office, service location, and/or event if
you fail to meet this requirement.
Residential Students
Residential students (living on-campus) will receive their PPE supplies as part of
their Fall 2020 move-in process
Commuter Students
Beginning August 10th, and continuing through end-of-day August 21st, commuter students (those students who live off-campus) will receive their PPE supplies
by going to the University Center, third floor, and following signage. PPE distribution
in the UC will be open the same hours as the WCU Bookstore.
Students should wear a mask whenever they are in a public space. If a student does
not have a mask, a temporary mask will be provided. Students will need their CatCard
or their student ID number (92#) to receive their PPE supplies.
Upon receiving their PPE, students will be able to start their rental textbook check-out
process. Commuter students must visit this check-out station in the UC before visiting the
bookstore to obtain their rental books. Visiting this check-out station puts you in the pickup queue and gives bookstore
staff time to prepare your books. After visiting the UC, students will then walk to
the bookstore and receive their books by following commuter student signage.
This process has been designed to ensure as many students as possible receive their
PPE supplies from WCU. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through
this new process.
To obtain your PPE and begin your textbook rental check-out process, please visit
the University Center during these times:
- Monday August 10th through Thursday August 13th: 10am – 5pm
- Friday August 14th through Sunday August 16th: 8am – 8pm
- Monday August 17th through Friday August 21st: 10am – 5pm
Students at Biltmore Park
Students will receive their PPE supplies at the beginning of the semester. The supplies
will be available for pick-up beginning Monday, August 17th on the first floor for DPT and engineering students, and the third floor for all
other students. In addition to providing PPE supplies to individuals, public hand-sanitizing
stations will be available near the first and third floor information desks.
For Faculty and Staff
Western Carolina University has developed a plan for providing the campus community
with personal protective equipment:
- WCU intends to provide the campus community with reusable face coverings, hand sanitizer
and disinfecting wipes to open the fall 2020 semester.
- The university has disposable face coverings, large containers of hand sanitizer and
large containers of disinfecting wipes available to those campus departments that
desire to have them provided. Please submit any requests for these items to your department
head who can then request the supplies through a Facilities Management service request.
- Departments and programs are free to order face coverings for their own use.
Faculty and staff are expected to wear face coverings at all times in classrooms and
other public work or instructional environments. You are not expected to wear a face
covering when you are alone or alone in your office or work space.
While the university may supply PPE upon request or due to the nature of your position
and/or applicable regulatory requirement(s), you may supply your own face covering.
If you do need to request a face covering, please submit that request to your supervisor
who will work with their superiors to determine availability and need.
Faculty and Staff at Biltmore Park
PPE supplies for faculty and staff with primary offices at Biltmore Park will be managed
and distributed by the operations coordinator. Bags will be left in each faculty and
staff office before Monday, August 17th and resupplies will be provided at Biltmore Park throughout the semester.
Resupply of PPE during the Fall Semester
It is our intention to provide an inventory of PPE to allow departments to maintain
a 4-6 week supply of departmental-sized hand sanitizer dispensers and canisters of
disinfecting wipes at a centralized location. Facilities Management will work with
departments to identify contacts who will be authorized to order supplies. Supplies
will be stored in the Facilities Management warehouse.
Cleaning Procedures
Facilities Management has implemented new cleaning protocols to meet CDC sanitization
guidelines. In accordance with these guidelines, every room on campus has been inventoried
and classified by type to determine sanitization needs and the methods necessary to
meet these requirements. There are numerous variations of sanitization protocol for
the numerous room types, from classrooms to residence hall bathrooms, from athletic
training rooms to wet lab space, etc.
Housekeeping staff will be augmented with temporary workers so additional staff can
be deployed during the business day to continuously sanitize high-traffic areas. Second
shift housekeeping staff will also have additional sanitizing duties each evening.
An outsourced service for rapid response COVID-19 sanitization is currently being
solicited. We expect to utilize this service for quarantine areas as well as any other
area deemed necessary.
The enhanced sanitization plan will go into effect in late July. The room inventory spreadsheet is available for those who would like more information on the cleaning protocols for the various
spaces on campus.
EXPLORE THE SPREADSHEET
Classroom Cleaning Protocols
We are continuing to refine classroom cleaning protocols.
- Housekeeping staff will use electrostatic spraying to disinfect classrooms, including
e-classrooms, each evening.
- Housekeeping staff will not be wiping down computers, lecture stations or other equipment.
Users should clean lecture stations, microphones, keyboards and computer mice prior
to and after each use.
- Large canisters of disinfecting wipes will be available in some areas and students
will receive disinfecting wipes in their personal protective equipment bags.
Biltmore Park Cleaning Protocol
- Housekeeping staff will clean each evening, including sanitizing instructor stations,
and will use electrostatic spraying to further disinfect classrooms once a week.
- Housekeeping staff will not wipe down instructor stations, tables, chairs, desks,
or other equipment during the day between classes, so users should clean their work
areas prior to and after each use. There will be alcohol wipes at the instructor stations
to sanitize electronics.
- Hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes are in every classroom and lab for faculty and students
to clean their own workstations.
