June 9, 2021
President Thomas and Provost Gooch,
The Truman State chapter AAUP Executive Committee recognizes that the Administration’s decision to return to “normal instruction” after an academic year of masking and social distancing was not undertaken lightly, but rather in consideration of the CDC’s guidance on COVID-appropriate protocol, as more and more Americans in general are vaccinated.
However, the return to normal or near-normal (i.e. pre-pandemic) capacity classrooms comes with clear risk. In the absence of a vaccination requirement for the institution, there is a strong likelihood that many of our returning students will not be vaccinated. This will be aggravated by HIPPA regulations, which preclude our ability to require disclosure of vaccination status. The situation is further muddied by current CDC guidelines, stating that “fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing.” The obvious problem with this is that any unmasked person may or may not be fully vaccinated as maskless status now combines the conscientious American with those either unable (for specific health concerns) or unwilling to be vaccinated.
In sum, a return to normal or near-normal classroom capacity by definition means that social distancing will be physically impossible. That this will take place in a context where some students and professors will be vaccinated, and some will not, means that the potentially infected will come into contact w the uninfected; while this may be a minor matter for those fully vaccinated, we remind people that none of the vaccines claim 100% efficacy, and the CDC acknowledges that breakthrough infections of the fully vaccinated, though rare, are occurring.
More importantly, a context of close proximity where some students are certain to be unvaccinated means that we are in effect planning instructional settings where the virus may be freely exchanged. This policy then runs the risk of returning to a pre-lockdown scenario, if only for the proportion of the unvaccinated among us. When added to a local and regional context of rising infections and some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, this move is all the more dangerous.
Given these circumstances, the AAUP strongly urges the Administration to promote the “abundance of caution” that carried us through AY 2020/21 relatively safely by promoting vaccination, maximizing social distance where possible, and encouraging continued mask-wearing, even among the vaccinated.
In sum, the Truman State AAUP Executive Council urges the TSU Administration to:
- retain the mask mandate
- maximize social distancing where possible
- require proof of vaccination for all faculty, staff, and students
Sincerely,
The Truman State AAUP Executive Council
Bill Alexander (Biology)
Marc Becker (History)
Laura Bigger (Art)
Anton Daughters (Anthropology)
Stacy Davis (CML & Education)
Yuna Ferguson (Psychology)
Christine Harker (English)