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Monday, May 4, 2020

Neglected Issue?

Inside Higher Ed has an article about faculty concerns regarding teaching in the fall during the ongoing coronavirus crisis: [excerpt]

As colleges and universities agonize over whether students will return in the fall, either to campus or online, they’re making a big assumption: that faculty members will show up to teach. The expectation isn’t ill founded. Faculty jobs, especially the good ones, were hard to come by even before hundreds of institutions announced pandemic-related hiring freezes. No one wants to be out of a job right now. But no one wants to get sick, either.
Teaching online for another semester is so far outside many professors’ original job descriptions that it is nearly as unpalatable, to some, as being shut in a room with students. Even so, many professors say they'd prefer a remote term, or even a delayed academic year, to teaching face-to-face again too soon...
The AAUP’s national legal office said it’s gotten a few inquiries on professors’ rights vis-à-vis teaching in the fall. The "AAUP Principles and Standards for the COVID-19 Crisis" addresses faculty involvement in decisions about those things that are the primary responsibility of the faculty, including teaching.
“We take the position that these principles apply just as much in exigent circumstances, such as those presented by the pandemic,” said Hans-Joerg Tiede, senior program officer at the association...
What is striking about this article is that as of 9 am this morning, there were 71 comments. Of course, some of them lean toward the troll-type remarks that occur when publications allow comments. But most are serious which suggests there is real faculty concern. UC administrators, Regents, and Senate leaders might want to pay attention.

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