Every student and member of staff at NUI Galway will have to sign a new ‘community promise’ as part of the University’s Covid-19 response plan.

The University is asking students and staff to ‘buy-in to the need for a deepened sense of maturity and responsibility’ for the collective good for the new academic year.

NUI Galway President Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said they are “asking each student to sign up to be part of our university community, to behave appropriately, to consider others, to follow our advice and public health guidelines, to act responsibly and to respect everyone in the university and the wider community.”

This commitment – Cúram Dá Chéíle – asks students to respond in an open, positive, and respectful way if their actions are challenged and to avoid scenarios and environments that run counter to these principles.

“Cúram Dá Chéile is a big ask,” added President Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh. “Making it a success is a bigger challenge. But it is the basis for a collective good.

“It has the power to be a guiding light – for the University, as more than an academic institution, to show solidarity with the wider community and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“What keeps us apart can be the very thing that brings us together.”

The promise below will have to be signed by students and staff at the University.

Cúram Dá Chéile, our community promise, NUI Galway

In these extraordinary times, our ask is for each student and member of staff to sign up to be part of the University community, to behave appropriately, to consider others, to follow our advice and the public health guidelines, to act responsibly and to uphold the core value of our institution respect. To respect everyone in the University and the wider community.

We ask everyone at the University to commit to following; Cúram Dá Chéile, our community promise:

• I will follow NUI Galway and Public Health Guidelines related to reducing the spread of COVID-19. I understand that this is likely to change regularly so I will take personal responsibility for ensuring I am up to date with the latest information which is available at https://www.nuigalway.ie/alert/.
• If I begin to suffer with Covid-19 symptoms I will report these using the processes within the University and follow guidance to self-isolate and get a test. I accept the role that I have to play in making sure that the areas where we live, work, and study are as safe as they can be.
• I will show empathy, respect and due consideration to others – my friends and peers, my colleagues, the wider Community, and all of those who help me achieve my goals whilst at University. I note that this commitment sits alongside the University’s policies around harassment and intimidation that I have a duty to assist in establishing an environment in which harassment, bullying, and victimisation are regarded as unacceptable.
• I understand the importance of providing friendship, helping people avoid loneliness and isolation, and supporting others. Therefore I will look out for my friends and those I live, learn or work with. If I have a concern about someone, I will raise this with an appropriate person (lecturer, student services staff, etc.) so that help and support can be offered.
• If I am challenged about my behaviour I will respond in an open, positive, and respectful manner – listening carefully to understand the concern, and changing my behaviour to remove it. I understand and accept that wilfully and repeatedly breaching University guidance is an act of misconduct and could lead to me being subject to disciplinary processes as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. If I see situations that are contrary to guidance, I will remove myself from those situations as soon as possible.
• I know that this is an ever developing situation – one which requires everyone’s ongoing vigilance and personal responsibility.