Laurier is making daily decisions and service adjustments to contain the spread of COVID-19. Our goal is to keep the Laurier community informed of these updates in a timely and accurate manner. Visit the wlu.ca/coronavirus website for the latest information and the Remote Learning Student Hub site for academic, mental health and social supports.

We’re collecting stories of sharing, helping and kindness submitted by members of university community. Recent stories include a $10,000 donation to the Waterloo Region hospital fund from the Lazaridis Students’ Society, and student Noah Chow receiving thanks from Ryan Reynolds for his PPE donations. Please take a moment to read, and to share your stories by emailing cpam@wlu.ca or tag Laurier in your social media posts.

We are now sending the COVID-19 digest of important updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The next digest will be April 23.

April 21 key updates:

Planning for the fall term: The university is working closely with public health authorities to determine when and how to facilitate a safe return to classrooms this fall. Although on-campus activities may be modified, we want to assure you that your Laurier experience will continue this September. Read the full university statement here.

The book list for Spring 2020 is live: To get your custom book list, simply go to laurier.verbacompare.com and sign in with your MyLearningSpace login. You’ll be able to view your required materials by course and see prices for new, used or rental copies. We’ll also help you save money by comparing our prices with Amazon’s in real time. Please note there is no option for in-person pickup, as all of our locations remain closed due to COVID-19. Free shipping will be applied to all orders at checkout.

Statistics Canada is surveying postsecondary students to understand the educational, employment and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The information will be used by governments and other organizations to evaluate the need for services and assistance programs to support postsecondary students during and after the pandemic. The voluntary survey is available on the Statistics Canada website and is open until May 1.

Custom Laurier backgrounds now available for Zoom and Microsoft Teams: As we learn and work remotely, many of us are missing the connection to Laurier’s physical campuses. To help you make that connection and add a Laurier touch to your video conferences, we've put together a guide to help you add custom images to Zoom and Teams as well as download a variety of Laurier images to use as your background.

Laurier is offering a free, online course to help individuals develop self-care skills and support positive mental well-being during challenging times. The Essential Self-Care and Resilience course is an uninstructed, self-paced course available to everyone online through Laurier’s Centre for Public Safety and Well-Being. The course is designed to provide knowledge and skills to help people cope, not only with the current COVID-19 pandemic, but with difficult situations in everyday life.