At today's Apple event, Apple announced that the latest version of macOS, "Big Sur", will be released this Thursday, November 12th. Please do not upgrade your college Mac to Big Sur yet. Your Mac should block this update for the time being and will not install it unless you do so manually.
Big Sur introduced a lot of changes to the OS, despite its similar appearance to previous versions. Some of these changes can prevent you from being able to access campus resources required by your work, including connecting to the VPN, accessing the BCShares (M drive), and using certain applications. Additionally, new versions of an operating system are typically less stable when they are first released. Downgrading is also not possible without a complete reformat.
LITS will continue working to resolve these issues and will send out an update when the upgrade can be installed. If you use a personal Mac for work purposes, please be aware that upgrading will result in the same issues listed above. We recommend not upgrading your personal Mac at this time.