My father in law is in his 70’s and teaches at a local college after he retired from his law practice. The professors are part of a union. The school is open and the union voted to have the teachers go to in person classes. A lot of professors decided to retire. He was opposed to having in person classes but his choices are now to teach in person and risk himself and our entire family or retire when he doesn’t want to. He is trying to get his classes moved to online. And if he can’t we will weigh the options. He doesn’t want to retire yet. We don’t want him exposed. This whole situation is a mess.
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Yup. And it’s not really setting the students up to prevent lawsuits. It’s setting the school up–“The administration knew people would die, and even said so out loud, and yet plowed forward anyway.” Because most other documents talk about mitigating risk without admitting what happens if you don’t.
Edit Clarification: Most higher ed schools have inserted a clause in their “Back to School Amidst Covid” docs that says “You returning to campus indemnifies us because you can see all the precautions we’ve taken” in some kind of weasly legalese. So, this kind of statement from a prof could help tear that wall down–This was a known risk despite the precautions.
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That’s messed up. Our union has been a strong voice prioritizing safety over everything else, and is one of the reasons few of our classes are going f2f.
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Sometimes, subtext isn’t enough. This is what is wrong with the comfortable, tenured elite of academia. They are perfectly happy to couch their “protests” to make the administration feel comfortable, while throwing the rest of us under the fucking bus.
I’m actually lucky in that respect, because they just moved my class online…
Yes.
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Came here to say the same thing. This reads to me like an effort to undermine the mind-bogglingly stupid decision by Yale’s administration to begin in-person classes.
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Head of College and psychology professor Laurie Santos, plainly told them the disease may kill them there this semester and that life will look more like hospital than college.
What kind of sociopath is aware of this and still opens the school?
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“Everyone sit down. Now look at the person to the right and to the left of you. One of them won’t be here by the end of the semester. Literally”
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When a literal happiness expert tells you to be prepared to die then you know things are bad
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I know a LOT of professors, and they are FAR from comfortable with what administrations are doing. I’d guess you must not have paid a lot of attention to what college professors are saying publicly, because there’s widespread (not to say universal) outrage among that group. I think you might also misunderstand the typical relationship between faculty and school administrators.
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Mindysan is a professor.
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As a general rule, I’d recommend you read the linked article, read the thread here, or otherwise inform yourself before writing a kneejerk response. In this case, this professor did not “open the school”, the letter in question was written 6 weeks ago, and was very clearly written to express grave concern over the university’s decisions.
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But see, not a REAL one, just a low paid adjunct, so my experiences don’t really count. /s
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I think there may be some confusion about her title, “Head of College”: she’s not in charge of Yale, nowhere close. “Head of College” just means she’s more like a glorified RA than anything else.
The “College” she’s the “Head of” is basically a dorm, not an academic institution. She has absolutely no power to decide whether Yale reopens.
The blame for reopening should be placed on the actual administrators and the board of trustees.
Still, like what others have said above, Santos should be using her voice to more clearly fight for better policy.
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Come visit Australia Anywhere; you might not die. Oh, what a brave new world.
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As well as the will of people to do simple things that can help contain the virus…wash hands, stay home, wear a mask, don’t go to parties, etc…
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One flows from the other, they’re not independent.
When leadership says it’s fine to come back to a crowded classroom and hallway, with no need to wear a mask, it’s all fine, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s not surprising that people go to parties. After all, they were literally just told it was fine to be in a crowded space with nothing to worry about.
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“Great news, students, we’re opening Skull and Bones membership to everyone!”
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You can tell they’re professors by the pixels.
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your statement i think shows just how successful the republican messaging has been.
masks don’t protect you. they protect other people.
so it’s a personal choice to hurt other people because of the discomfort of wearing a mask. it showcases white fragility: that feeling uncomfortable is being mistaken by the maga crowd as oppression
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