Talks with Torrey is a biweekly question and answer-based Zoom call hosted by University of Idaho Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Torrey Lawrence. In this series, we summarize the main points of each of these calls. If you have questions for Lawrence, you can submit them on the Talks with Torrey website at least 24 hours before the next event.
Director of UI’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Brian Smentkowski, UI President C. Scott Green and incoming Vice Provost for Faculty Diane Kelly-Riley joined Lawrence on this week’s edition of Talks with Torrey to answer questions from faculty and staff about classroom technology. Previous Talks with Torrey coverage can be found on our website by searching the Talks with Torrey tag.
Here’s an overview of this week’s Talk with Torrey.
UI is hosting a COVID-19 town hall meeting for employees 8:30 a.m. Aug. 4. Participants must register beforehand to attend, but the recorded session will be posted to the UI COVID-19 website afterwards.
Black Lives Matter and Moscow Police Department
- Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert responded to the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement as they pertain to Moscow Police Department in a City of Moscow Facebook post July 2.
- Moscow Police Department Chief James Fry added another message in a City of Moscow Facebook post July 7.
- Fry also serves as a liaison to Moscow’s Human Rights Commission, according to the July 2 post.
- UI and MPD will be conducting internal trainings on microaggressions to better inform UI employees and local police officers on how to prevent microaggressions, Green said.
- Green said there’s been tension in the past between MPD officers and UI students from minority backgrounds.
COVID-19-related information
- “We’re not hell-bent on staying open against all odds. That’s not our deal,” Green said. “What we’re trying to do is look at all these factors and look at both the benefits of being open as well as the downside of being open. We were early to call it in the spring and we’ll be early to call it again.”
- Targhee Hall will serve as an area for students diagnosed with COVID-19 to self-isolate while living on campus.
- According to previous reporting by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Targhee Hall served as an overflow space for Gritman Medical Center earlier in the pandemic.
- Neither international nor domestic students will need to self-isolate for two weeks in Moscow before the start of classes, Lawrence said.
- Free testing will be provided to undergraduate and graduate students, staff and faculty through the on-campus COVID-19 lab on the Moscow campus.
- There will not be labs on campus at UI’s other campuses and centers. Administrative teams in these locations will work with students and employees to find COVID-19 testing options and reimburse the cost.
- This testing will be provided throughout the semester, not just at the beginning.
- The on-campus lab intends to provide results from tests within 24 hours of collecting samples.
- If students refuse to be tested, they will not be allowed in on-campus buildings, just like students refusing to wear face coverings will not be allowed in on-campus buildings, Lawrence said.
- UI’s fall reopening plan has been approved by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, according to Green.
- In addition to public health contact tracing resources, UI is training 15 contact tracers for university-specific cases.
- The university is monitoring local COVID-19 cases, national, state and local directives and information from Public Health – Idaho North Central District, Gritman Medical Center and Moscow School District when making decisions regarding the fall semester, Lawrence said.
- “We’re not messing around with this,” Lawrence said.
Comment on other university plans
- “We’ve continued to get down into the details of (the plan). There’s more we need to do,” Green said. “We feel we’re in very good shape, though. We’re getting down to the absolute details of every single area that we’ve been working on.”
- Idaho State University and Boise State University will not have COVID-19 testing facilities on campus and will reopen for in-person classes, Green said.
- Institutions which are implementing self-quarantines likely aren’t requiring COVID-19 testing, Lawrence said.
- “Given where we’re at, we’ve got a lot of confidence in our people and where we’re at and the downside of not opening is pretty severe,” Green said. “We’ll continue to evaluate those factors and communicate.”
- Green acknowledged the university cannot eliminate all risk, but wants to provide the best experience it can as safely as possible for its students while making the best decisions it can for the community.
Budget and COVID-19-related losses
- The university hypothetically transitioning online this fall would not automatically mean employees would be laid off, Lawrence said.
- “There’s a concern if we go online, as we’ve seen other schools do, that enrollment goes down and that could present definite financial challenges, which could then result in layoffs, absolutely, as one of many budget cutting and saving tools,” Lawrence said. “I think to just equate those two together, I want to be careful. Is it probable? It could happen, absolutely. And that’s part of the reason we’re trying to open as safely as we can and move forward that way.”
- UI lost $7 million last spring due to COVID-19, according to UI Director of Communications Jodi Walker.
- Enrollment was 5-6% behind as of July 29, which equates to approximately $5 million, Green said. Walker could not confirm the exact amount of money this decrease in enrollment would equate to, but said the estimate sounded reasonable.
- Voluntary Separation Incentive and Optional Retirement Incentive programs resulted in 110 employees voluntarily separating from UI, equating to approximately $8.4 million in salary savings and $3.1 million in fringe benefit savings, according to an email sent to faculty and staff from Green.
- In addition, 39 faculty and staff contracts were not renewed so colleges and units could meet budget targets, including 13 faculty contracts scheduled to end in fiscal year 2021, the email stated.
Student-specific information
- Curbside delivery of food and library materials will be available in the fall, according to Green.
- Students arriving on campus before the on-campus lab is ready should be tested for COVID-19 before arriving on campus. Students arriving before official move-in times should be tested at the campus lab before on-campus move-ins to prevent a back-up in the lab.
- Students should take tests at least 24 hours prior to the first in-person event or class they plan on attending to allow time for test results.
Faculty– and staff-specific information
- CETL has provided information throughout the summer on the HyFlex teaching model and improving accessibility, inclusion and technology in the classroom, Smentkowski said.
- Additional information on flexible teaching methods will be released soon.
- Classrooms will hopefully be ready for the semester by next week.
- Instructors may be required to self-isolate if a student in one of their classes tests positive for COVID-19 after the start of the semester, but this will depend on the situation.
- Faculty and staff are recommended and encouraged to get tested for COVID-19 throughout the semester through the on-campus lab.
- Some faculty members in the call expressed concerns about the UI Human Resources process used to request the ability to work from home.
- One faculty member said employees may feel uncomfortable sharing personal information and health reasons for requesting to work from home.
- “In my experience with them, which, after the last two years, is very significant, I have no concerns sharing anything with them,” Lawrence said. “I don’t know of problems we’ve had in that in the past. If there were, I think they would’ve been isolated events. But I don’t see that as a concern at all. It is someone’s choice, but if they choose not to share, they’re also choosing not to have that benefit.”
- The same faculty member said HR and UI Administration should not have the authority to decide which reasons to stay home are worthy or not. She said many faculty members want the ability to choose how to deliver their courses.
- Lawrence said he is grateful to those going through the process and supports the HR system, although he is glad faculty are willing to teach from home.
- UI will consider partnering with other local higher education institutions to help cover classes in case faculty members contract COVID-19.
- Each class will be handled on a case-by-case basis if a faculty member contracts COVID-19. Some classes may be handled by other UI faculty members, others could be handled by temporarily hired instructors and others could be covered by partnered institutions.
- This was suggested by UI College of Art and Architecture Dean Shauna Corry during the meeting, after which Lawrence discussed possibilities. No formal plans have been announced.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]