Another PSU faculty group expresses concerns related to reopening, opens dialogue with administration
Another faculty group, the Penn State chapter of the American Association of University Professors, recently wrote a letter to university administration sharing concerns with reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic — and they’re hoping for further dialogue with the university president.
According to Michelle Rodino-Colocino, the president of the Penn State chapter, the letter that centered on safety and transparency was sent out late last week. University President Eric Barron then responded Sunday in what the group hopes is the start of a closer relationship.
“Faculty still have some concerns over the reopening plans that have not been addressed yet by the administration, publicly,” said Rodino-Colocino, an associate professor of communications and women’s studies.
Among the four concerns/expectations outlined in the letter:
- Greater COVID-19 reporting transparency: The AAUP chapter would like faculty and staff to be notified, via campus alerts, if someone on or near campus tests positive for the coronavirus. It would also like daily reports on COVID-19 case totals — the Penn State COVID-19 dashboard is currently updated weekly — and it is requesting that faculty and staff be notified if someone in their classroom, lab, office building or housing unit tests positive. (On July 21, Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones told faculty in an email that Penn State would not necessarily notify them or students if someone in their class tests positive because, if physical distancing is maintained, they’re “not considered to be close contacts.”)
- A more widespread surveillance testing plan: Penn State is currently testing 1% of the university population daily to discover asymptomatic cases, or positive cases with no outward signs of infection, that risk further spread. Citing a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the AAUP chapter would like to see that increased considerably — to 50%.
- A tangible closing plan: Other universities have released specific plans that let the community know when and how they might shut down, and the AAUP chapter wants something similar at Penn State. At Syracuse, for instance, operational activity is broken down into five levels. At Level 4, which is defined as a “significant outbreak in excess of approximately 100 infections,” the campus comes to a full “pause” and programs move to online alternatives. Rodino-Colocino said class planning is also made much more difficult if a shutdown comes without warning; a closing plan should provide more notice since faculty would know what signs to look for.
- A public website that seeks feedback: Essentially, the AAUP chapter would just like the university to be more open to feedback and criticism when it comes to COVID-19 concerns. One way the group suggests to achieve that would be to open a public website where faculty, staff, town residents and students can share their thoughts. “This website should be widely promoted as part of the Back-to-State plan,” the letter read.
Rodino-Colocino declined to share a hard copy of Barron’s responses but said she was pleased overall. According to the associate professor, who founded the AAUP chapter in 2013, Barron told her he would pass on her first concern to the Office of General Counsel.
Barron disagreed on the second point, acknowledged on the third point there would be no singular closing plan and referenced a dashboard on the fourth point. Rodino-Colocino said her group emailed Barron back again Tuesday.
Penn State declined Wednesday to offer further comment to the Centre Daily Times.
“I’m glad we’re making a seat for ourselves at the table and Eric Barron is responding,” Rodino-Colocino said. “We’re happy about that.”
The Penn State chapter of the AAUP is at least the second faculty group that has publicly released concerns to the administration about COVID-19. More than 1,100 faculty members — including some from the AAUP — signed an open letter over the summer that advocated for more widespread testing, more involvement from faculty in the decision-making process, and more.
The organizers of that letter then formed the group Coalition for a Just University, which held an online rally earlier this month.
The AAUP chapter has members from 16 Penn State campuses, and the national organization — 105 years old — represents more than 500 accredited colleges and universities throughout the country. Local membership numbers are not known.
“We reached out to communicate our expectations for a safe and sustainable opening,” Rodino-Colocino added. “In general, what we’re hoping for is building a relationship where AAUP is part of the faculty governance at Penn State, along with the faculty senate.”
AAUP letter to PSU
A copy of the AAUP’s letter to President Eric Barron was provided to the Centre Daily Times. It is listed in its entirety below:
Dear President Barron:
I’m reaching out to you as chapter president of The American Association of University Professors-Penn State. We represent faculty across ranks at PSU campuses across the state. At meetings leading up to the Fall 2020 reopening at Penn State, we have discussed expectations we have for implementing the Back-to-State plan as COVID becomes a leading cause of death of Americans (surging to the #3 cause in the past week). We are closely watching the latest trends as more colleges and universities move to remote instruction in the face of rising infection rates and as our own Freshmen were caught on video, “flaunting the University’s health and safety expectations,” as your message today underscores. I am writing to ask you for a meeting with me before Tuesday’s reopening to discuss our expectations for opening safely:
1. As the Clery Center recommends, we expect faculty and staff to be notified, via PSU campus alerts, if someone on or near campuses tests positive for COVID. Relatedly, we expect PSU to publish daily reports of COVID case totals as reported on campuses and in housing near campuses. Additionally, we anticipate that faculty and staff will be notified if someone in their classroom, lab, studio, theatre, office building, or housing unit has tested positive for COVID.
2. A recent study published in JAMA finds that screenings every two days coupled with isolation can “maintain a controllable number of COVID-19 infections and permit the safe return of students to campus.” Following this conclusion, we recommend that Penn State augment our testing plan by testing all students every other day (in other words, 50% of students each day).
3. We expect that Penn State will soon be releasing its closing plan. Not knowing the details of this plan is causing uncertainty and is eroding support for the Back-to-State operation. We anticipate that Penn State will release our safety plan with enough time for us to prepare students to depart from campus before we find ourselves in the midst of an outbreak. If this plan is not yet finalized, we ask Penn State to consult Syracuse University’s closing plan (see p. 17 of that document) for an example of a detailed closing plan. While we find the number of cases that would trigger a closure for Syracuse to be much too high, we applaud the form of the closure plan for the details included about scenarios that would trigger a closure and the process through which move-outs would proceed. We look forward to an expeditious release of this plan.
4. Finally, we ask that Penn State expeditiously open an assessment component for the Back-to-State plan where PSU community members implementing and affected by the plan (students, faculty, staff, town residents), may share feedback on feasibility and outcomes on a daily basis. This assessment plan should include a public website where PSU stakeholders may share assessment and outcomes feedback. This website should be widely promoted as part of the Back-to-State plan. Outcomes can provide immediate data that will inform closing decisions.
I look forward to our conversation.
Because the semester is swiftly approaching, I suggest a Friday or Monday zoom call.
Sincerely,
Michelle Rodino-Colocino, AAUP-Penn State President
