Dear Campus Community,
We write to provide a brief update regarding the ongoing CatCourses (Canvas) outage and the university’s continued coordination with UC system leadership and technology partners.
This morning at 8:30 a.m., IT leaders from across the UC system met with the UC Office of the President (UCOP) to receive an update regarding the status of the Instructure Canvas system and ongoing security review efforts.
At 9:00 a.m., UC chancellors met with President Milliken to discuss the current situation, including the security posture of the Instructure platform and the risk considerations associated with restoring system access prior to independent third-party verification of system integrity.
At 9:30 a.m., Chancellor Muñoz briefed campus academic leadership, including the deans and Academic Senate leadership, to discuss implications for instruction and academic continuity at UC Merced.
With both UC Merced and UC Berkeley approaching the start of finals week tomorrow, the urgency of restoring Canvas access is especially significant. Chancellor Muñoz continues to work closely with campus academic leadership and the Office of Information Technology to carefully weigh the operational and academic impacts alongside the potential risks of bringing the system back online before third-party system integrity confirmation is complete.
Additional meetings among UC leadership, technology officials, and campus representatives will continue throughout the day. A follow-up update will be shared with the campus community by 3:00 p.m. this afternoon as more information becomes available.
We recognize the disruption this situation is causing for students, faculty, and staff, particularly at this critical point in the academic term. Thank you for your continued patience and flexibility.
Regular updates and all campus communications on this topic will be posted on OIT’s incident page.
Betsy Dumont, Ph.D.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Nick Dugan
Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer
