Censure of UVU Administration: Ongoing Mismanagement of Covid-19
TO: The Utah Board of Higher Education
FROM: The American Federation of Teachers Chapter and the David R. Keller Chapter of the American Association of University Professors at Utah Valley University
DATE: January 24, 2022
SUBJECT: Censure of UVU administration: ongoing mismanagement of Covid-19
Having repeatedly expressed our ongoing concerns regarding the university's failure to adequately protect the health and well-being of our community, Utah Valley University’s American Federation of Teachers chapter and the David R. Keller chapter of the American Association of University Professors regrettably resort to publicly censuring our administration--specifically, Provost Wayne Vaught, Vice President of Administration and Strategic Relations Val Peterson, and President Astrid Tuminez--for countenancing unsafe and unhealthy conditions in work and learning spaces shared by students, staff, and faculty.
Rather than endorsing widely accepted scientific facts and behaving responsibly toward the health and wellness of our community, UVU’s Covid-19 protocols are merely weak, unenforceable recommendations that seem tailored to accommodate non-masking and unvaccinated individuals. Far from protecting the university community, these protocols put it at substantial risk. Faculty, moreover, have practically no shared governance of these protocols, having been given no real input into their development and implementation. Yet even as the university now finds itself incapable of testing, contact tracing, and classroom case monitoring, it is faculty who are scrutinized for modifying courses in accordance with faculty, staff, and student health needs. Despite the administration’s persistently optimistic messaging, we cannot rely upon hope and resilience alone. Give the risks especially to the immunocompromised, members of our community and our large number of uninsured adjunct instructors, we call upon our administration to endorse evidence-based best-health practices outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by strongly enforcing--and not merely recommending--vaccination, masking, testing, and contact tracing as a sign of exceptional care for the most vulnerable in our ranks and for our wider community.
As dedicated faculty and staff, we take seriously our responsibility to provide our students with adaptable instruction and quality education throughout this ongoing pandemic. Our work depends, however, on our administrators acting on their responsibility to provide a safe environment for our community. We are the largest public institution tasked with overseeing the highest levels of education in our state. UVU must take the lead on these responsibilities. As the Omicron variant rapidly spreads across our campus, faculty and staff have lost faith in our administration’s handling of these life-or-death issues. With full recognition that it will require extended discussions with the Utah Board of Higher Education and with recalcitrant legislators--even and especially with those who are also employed by UVU as decision makers--we call for an immediate return to mandatory masking on campus. We further call for official assurances that faculty may use, at their professional discretion and without fear of retaliation, the robust tools developed for online asynchronous and live-streaming instruction during the remainder of the Spring 2022 semester and in all future semesters impacted by Covid-19 or similar pandemic case surges.
Curious to know the actual teachers behind this, not hiding behind the name of the group. “Widely accepted scientific facts…”
ReplyDeleteSo are we deciding to look past the facts that show that college students are widely unaffected by this virus, and to them, it is just as dangerous as the flu? Or is that fact just one we’re going to forget about. You can’t pick and choose your facts.