Dear President Brown,

We the students, faculty, and staff of Boston University want to show our support for an open and operating campus this Spring 2020 semester. Although the novel COVID-19 coronavirus is a real and present threat, we believe it is premature to close campus and will cause much more hardship and many more problems than remaining open yet vigilant. The media and presidential election have hyped up the fear of this virus to unreasonable levels and we don't want our education and jobs to suffer because of that. By signing this petition we support remaining open and operating throughout the spring semester, with the following two measures to be taken. 

1. Students who self-quarantine due to CDC-recommend factors will be excused for their absences from classes and on-campus jobs. They will also be excused indefinitely if they contract the virus and need to quarantine themselves while they fight the infection.
2. Faculty and staff will be given paid sick time for self-quarantine for prevention and or infection. This sick time should not come out of their previously accrued sick time and will be given for free in the interest of keeping infected individuals from having to choose between their livelihood and infecting others. 

We believe as long as Boston University looks out for the interest of students and staff who have come in contact with this virus, there should be no need to take the radical action of shutting down the entire university. Creating a backup plan for the worst possible scenario (as reported by BU Today) is always a necessary measure, but we don't believe that measure needs to be employed at this time.

We want to stand up to fear mongering and continue to be productive members of the BU community throughout the spring. 

Signed,

The BU Community