The University of Oregon plans to reopen campus for in-person instruction in the fall, but representatives from UO’s three labor unions and the Associated Students of the University of Oregon are concerned for the community’s safety.
UO’s current plan, according to its coronavirus webpage, includes remote instruction for classes with over 50 students, mask and social distancing requirements and options for students who do not want in-person classes.
The university plans for “robust” testing in the fall, and has the capacity to conduct over 1,000 tests per day on a sustained basis, according to an Aug. 10 email from UO President Michael Schill.
Some students believe instruction should remain remote for fall term, despite UO’s efforts toward testing and prevention.
“I don’t think that’s enough,” ASUO Senator Nick Keough said during a community panel on UO’s reopening which streamed on Aug. 18 by Solidarity News.
Keough would like to see UO go fully remote for fall term due to health and safety concerns. “It’s the reality of where we’re at,” he said, despite the disadvantages that remote learning brings for students and instructors.
“In the last couple of days, really,” Chris Sinclair, United Academics president, said during the panel, “we’ve seen what happens when we bring together a bunch of individuals back onto a campus.”
The University of Notre Dame announced a suspension of in-person classes for a week due to high coronavirus rates on Aug. 18. The next day, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill abruptly shifted all undergraduate instruction online due to an increase of cases on its campus, according to an announcement from UNC.
Sinclair believes UO is in an excellent position to learn from other universities and make reopening decisions based on what happens around the country before UO’s fall term begins on Sept. 29.
However, there are already graduate employees and classified staff on campus facing health and safety issues, Rajeev Ravisankar, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation president, said. He said GTFF brought the issues to UO administration.
“We have people coming through buildings without masks or people working in labs that maybe have traveled and didn’t quarantine coming back and a number of other things,” Ravisankar said. “So there are already some concerns playing out with the limited operations that are there on campus as we speak.”
Members of the UO community are more likely to follow UO’s safety protocols and instruction if there is clear communication and “abundant access to facilitate compliance” going into fall term, he said.
“We have consistently opposed harsh enforcement and disciplinary measures that could be targeted at GEs, campus workers or students,” Ravisankar said about GTFF. “In meeting with administration, we have sought assurances that campus police will not be involved in any way for enforcing safety protocols.”
Forty-nine members of the UO community have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Aug. 25. These positive cases came even before most students returned to campus, Keough said.
GTFF has consistently questioned UO’s prospective reopening, Ravisankar said. He believes the university’s administration has failed to fully consider the community risks associated with students returning to Eugene from around the country.
“Their plan relies heavily on individual accountability and culture-building rather than institutional responsibility,” Ravisankar said, “and we’ve reminded them again and again that this approach is bound to fall short and lead to unsafe conditions.”
In order to reopen safely, he said, the campus community would need transparency of testing results and positive cases, standardized protocols between UO departments and a required quarantine period before people return to campus.
“We need to develop a culture in which people — students and workers — on campus don’t feel that they’re pressured to have to come even if they’re under the weather,” Ravisankar said during the panel. “We have a culture at the universities where overwork is common and people feel pressure to come in, even if they’re not well, to use campus facilities.”
Faculty and graduate educators at UO can now opt out of in-person teaching for the fall, according to an announcement from Provost Patrick Phillips.
Patience Collier, a history GE and GTFF member, is worried about GEs that might not be able to utilize this opportunity.
“I’m very glad that the university has decided to allow instructional GEs and faculty to opt out of in-person teaching,” Collier said, “but I still worry that the availability of in-person teaching as an option may put some faculty and GEs in a position where their college or department pressures them into unsafe situations.”
Collier has faith in UO’s Department of History, but he is worried that social or professional pressure — or the pressure of funding security — might be leveraged against GEs in other departments.
UA welcomed Phillips’ decision but said in their newsletter they are concerned about the safety of their members.
“Although hundreds of university personnel have worked hard to make in-person instruction as safe as possible, there are many factors beyond any university employee’s control that indicate campus will be less than safe,” UA said in its newsletter. “We therefore cannot recommend in-person teaching for our members.”
Service Employees International Union, the university’s classified staff union, contains members working with University Housing, the EMU and Campus Planning and Facilities Management. SEIU is concerned about layoffs and its members’ financial wellbeing if UO’s services aren’t in-person, according to Johnny Earl, an SEIU executive.
According to Earl, 250 SEIU members are already on extended leave and are only receiving health insurance from UO and unemployment benefits. With fewer people on campus — especially if UO goes fully remote — UO isn’t going to need as many classified staff.
Earl wanted to see UO open to prevent potential layoffs, but was also worried about the risk to the university community.
“I need an income. I need to work,” Earl said, “But, at the same time, I don’t want to die.”
GTFF union contracts offer protection from having to work in unsafe conditions, Ravisankar said, and if UO administration fails to ensure health and safety in the fall, GTFF members will collectively determine a response.
Bringing thousands of students back to Eugene could put more than just the university community at risk, Keough said during the panel.
“We can’t forget that we are also accountable to the Eugene and Springfield community,” Keough said, “and the people that live here that aren’t even connected to the UO.”
The greatest risk, according to Ravisankar, is the university repeatedly highlighting its intent to have an in-person fall term. He said UO’s position is responsible for the anticipated influx of people returning to Eugene for a fall term that will most likely end up being remote.
“You don’t need to give your life to the University of Oregon,” Earl said.
