UCF faculty worry about resuming more in-person classes despite safety measure promises
The University of Central Florida intends to teach more classes on campus next semester, prompting the faculty union to worry that face-to-face contact will put instructor sand others on campus at risk. Though the university hasn’t decided yet how many classes will be offered in-person this spring, it has indicated it will offer more sections in a traditional format than it did this fall, when only 24% of sections were taught on-campus and the rest remained onlineonly to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The state university system has pressed institutions to resume as many in-person activities as possible this spring and some students and parents say they’ re hoping for a return to normal campus life, aswell.
UCF has promised to maintain the measures it instituted this semester to discourage the spread of the virus, including limiting classroom capacity, sanitizing classrooms nightly and requiring facemasks.
“We will continue to emphasize to our entire community the importance of abiding by our COVID19 protocols,” university spokesman Chad Binette wrote in an email. “But it is significant that to date we have seen no spread of the virus resulting from our classrooms.”
U CF also has established a process for granting exemptionsto faculty members and graduate teaching assistants with specific health conditions or if they are 70 or older.
But UCF’s faculty union says it is concerned because the exemptions appear reserved for an“unnecessarily narrow group of people ,” and don’t protect otherwise healthy workers who are between 65 and 69 years old, a group the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is at elevated risk. The group also questioned the university’s need to significantly increase the numberof in-person classes taught now, as the number of virus cases locally increases and many health experts say they expect that trend to continue throughout the winter.
“It is not unreasonable to expect the situation with infections is going to get worse,” said Claudia Schippert, the grievance chair for UCF’s faculty union and an associate professor in the philosophy department.
The number of infections reported at UCF has been smaller than at other large universities. Nearly 1,792 students and 172 employees have tested positive since March, according to the school’s COVID-19 dashboard. During the week ending Nov. 7, the campus recorded 130 new cases. At the University of Florida, where enrollment is smaller, 3,716 students and 544 employees have tested positive since the pandemic started. During the past week, the school has reported 172 new c ases.
Faculty members at UF also have said they’re concerned about resuming more in-person classes this semester. During a faculty senate meeting last month, university President Kent Fuchs told instructors he’s
“absolutely convinced” in-person classes can resume safely and not allowing them to do so will hurt UF’s “stature,” The Gainesville Sun reported. Fuchs also said he believes the decision will benefit students, according to The Sun. The Board of Governors, which oversees the state universities, is urging them to resume normal operations as much as possible this spring.
“The Florida Board of Governors is strongly encouraging the state universities to resume as many face-to-face courses and activities in spring as they can safely do within CDC guidelines,” Spokeswoman Renee Fargason wrote in an email. “As we have done this Fall, each university is working within its own curriculum, physical capacity, and unique circumstances to provide a high-quality education consistent with the CDC guidelines.”
But even if more classes are taught in-person this spring, universities won’ t be able to recreate traditional campus life, said Robert Cassanello, president of
UCF’s faculty union and an associate professor of history.
“They want students to have an on-campus experience, which I guess means face-to-face classes,” he said, adding “There would be lots of classes that can’t be scheduled because of the room sizes.”
The state’ s push to re open everything from school campuses to restaurants could hurt students and employees and the communities where they live, said Marshall Ogletree, executive director of United Faculty of Florida, the statewide union. He said he wasn’t calling for another statewide lockdown, but allowing public places like bars to open at full capacity could spell troubleif students return in large numbers to campuses again.
“They bring C OVID to the communities,” Ogletree said. “It’s hard to police college age if the governor is allowing the bars to be open, students are going to go to the bars. It hink that’s a recipe for disaster.”