How nice it is to work on campus ‘normally’, and I’m not just talking about the supply of cookies and candy. Last week, the way we felt was similar to the early stages of COVID. With the same uncertainties: how long will this last? Which activities can go ahead? Which can’t? Are you going to campus or working from home? You want to make a WhatsApp group for work discussions, or are we dusting off Zoom?

But faster than I expected, the colleagues from ICT had everything back on track: the daily communication update was speedily organized and on Friday afternoon almost all of us knew how things were looking.

Having said that, we did see an entire week disappear from the academic year, with all of the administrative hassle that comes with it. The exams have been postponed by a week, the second semester will start a week later, and the deadlines and teaching program in the third quartile are to be revised and adjusted. My colleagues are working hard on this behind the scenes.

I myself am in the process of checking whether it’s a good idea to stick to the scheduled dates for our student for a day events or postpone them by a week. Which isn’t that much work, but it needs to be done all the same. I think I’ll go and see whether there are any cookies left. They aid the thinking process, I find.