Sometimes I get a little misty-eyed thinking about pre-COVID college life. I miss field trips and residence hall events, club meetings and movie nights. I miss sitting in a classroom where my participation in a lecture or discussion is not limited by the strength of my Wi-Fi connection. I miss the normal, status-quo college experience so much, and yet I am thoroughly opposed to the reopening plan the University of Idaho is set to follow this fall semester.
Biology and Spanish
Without even getting into the costs of testing every single student for COVID-19, or the risk associated with assuming students will uphold mask mandates and social distancing in their private residences, I am most concerned about the catch-22 we are forcing UI faculty into. Unless given HR approval to work from home because of a pre-existing medical condition, UI professors are required to teach in-person classes.
Why are we requiring that faculty risk their health and lives to lecture on campus, when they can competently work from home? Why do students get the option and privilege to register for online-only classes and work from home when they feel sick, but faculty do not? I urge the UI administration to give faculty and staff the option to choose to teach courses exclusively online and make the best decisions for their health and safety without fear of repercussions to their careers.
No one should be forced to choose between their life and their livelihood, and none of us should be returning to campus before it is safe to. We all miss normal life, but that sadness should come with a grain of salt: one fall semester online won’t kill us, but a semester of in-person classes does not come with the same guarantee.
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