UNC Faculty Express Concern About Fall Teaching Methods During Meetings, Through Petition

As UNC has revealed its plans for in-person instruction during the fall, some faculty have expressed concerns about how they’ll be able to teach and protect their health.

Over the last week, a petition circulated by faculty garnered more than 650 signatures as instructors expressed concern to university leadership about the Carolina Roadmap for Fall 2020. While the plan lays out health guidelines it expects the campus community to follow, faculty are concerned about being required to teach in-person and mandatory disclosure of health concerns if teaching remotely. The measure also asks UNC to require testing of all students, faculty and staff within the first weeks of the semester with ongoing tests administered through the year.

Interim Chair of the Faculty Council and Professor of History Lloyd Kramer recently spoke to Chapelboro about the faculty’s ongoing preparation for the fall semester. He said while different members of the faculty feel many varying ways about the prospect of returning to campus, the main concern seems to be regarding everyone’s autonomy of how they can teach.

“The faculty debate has centered on the question of how much control do faculty have over the decisions made about their teaching plans,” said Kramer. “I believe the goal is to create a supportive environment in which faculty who have particular health or personal concerns will have a couple of options for conveying those [worries.]”

In terms of public health, UNC has already said its community guidelines will include the wearing of face coverings, social distancing and regular washing of hands. Kramer said the feeling he gets is faculty expect their colleagues to follow such guidelines to protect themselves but are skeptical about others.

“More generally,” he said, “I would say there’s a faculty concern that students won’t abide by social distancing and they won’t wear masks. It seems like a generational matter that many young people are less concerned about this issue than older colleagues who are more vulnerable to this virus.”

Some members of the university’s Faculty Executive Committee expressed these concerns to Provost Bob Blouin during a virtual meeting last week. While UNC is not issuing a hard requirement on wearing masks, Blouin suggested faculty could require any student attending in-person sessions to wear one.

Beyond such health concerns, Kramer said he still believes many faculty members do wish to return to in-person instruction. He said some have expressed concern about how remote instruction isn’t as equitable since it creates challenges for students without consistent access to internet or workplaces. The professor also said new students would be at a significant disadvantage, having to establish relationships with instructors and peers virtually without an experiential well to draw from.

“These are reasons faculty, I think, are interested in finding solutions that include in-person components,” said Kramer. “But they very much want to have some influence in their conversations with department chairs and supervisors in developing a plan that works for them as well as for their students.”

It’s not just faculty and students’ experiences that would be affected by another semester of remote learning. Staff members for campus functions like Carolina Dining Services, sanitation, stadium operations and more have their livelihoods affected by limited students on campus.

Kramer said this important group of the UNC campus community likely factor into a decision to return to in-person instruction and full-scale operations.

“This is why it seems, to me,” he said, “likely there will be some kind of in-person teaching and student presence on campus in the fall. But I say that, like everyone else, without knowing what’s going to happen next. This virus is not something anyone controls or can predict.”

The Carolina Roadmap for Fall 2020 projects an August 10 starting date for the upcoming semester.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.

UNC Faculty Express Concern About Fall Teaching Methods During Meetings, Through Petition

On Air Now: 97.9 FM