Group calls for colleges to reveal virus case totals
The Texas Faculty Association called on Gov. Greg Abbott this week to order colleges to report weekly numbers of positive cases of COVID-19 and related deaths.
Pat Heintzelman, the association president and an instructor at Lamar University in Beaumont, said the group wants Abbott to use his emergency powers to require all public and private colleges to report their cases and provide faculty with information needed to keep themselves and their families safe. The association is an organization of about 500 college faculty members from across the state.
“The governor can work through either his appointees on the Higher Education Coordinating Board or his appointees on separate university governing boards to accomplish this goal,” Heintzelman said in a written statement. “He obviously wants university campuses to be open while the coronavirus pandemic remains dangerous. So, the least he can do is see to it that university administrators provide public information about COVID-19 infections in a timely manner.”
Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Heintzelman said the request stems from the many concerns she’s heard from faculty throughout the pandemic. Many feel uninformed and unsure whether students in their classrooms have the virus.
“They don’t know who’s got it,” Heintzelman said.
“(Faculty members) are risking their health every day, working on campuses, and they are entitled to this information,” she said.
Heintzelman added that some schools have refused to release this information to faculty who have requested their respective college’s number of positive cases. She did not say which colleges have refused to provide numbers, but added that some college and university faculty members have gone as far as submitting public information requests to get the data.
In some cases, Heintzelman said, professors and instructors are learning from students, rather than their college administration, about who has tested positive in their classrooms. But she did not point fingers at any college in particular.
“How difficult does that make your job when you don’t know? You’re assuming the worse, and … the rules are so all over the map. The faculty are worried that they are not being kept up to date,” she said.
Many Texas college officials have said they conduct their own contact tracing per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those guidelines should alert exposed individuals or those who come into close contact with positive cases. While some Texas colleges host their own dashboards with COVID-19 cases posted on their websites, Heintzelman said many faculty are still unsure of whether the numbers are accurate or updated.
“Some universities are not reporting or putting (their cases) on the website, and that leads the teachers to wonder howmany and where the cases are,” Heintzelman said. “You need to be informed how a student who is in your class is affected, and a teacher should inform all students so they know whether to quarantine or get tested.”
Faculty have been particularly concerned with how schools are enforcing face coverings or masks, she said, adding that onsomecampuses, students wear masks improperly or below their nose, which can defeat the purpose. She also called for more testing.
“We need to not let up. This disease is not behind us,” she said. “The first time we drop our guard, it’s going to get us.”
And “if someone tests positive,” Heintzelman said, “we need to know immediately.”