SEND A STRONG MESSAGE TO THE UNIVERSITY'S ADMIN!
The University of Toronto’s reopening plan does not guarantee a safe return to in-person work. Until the safety of students and workers can be guaranteed, in-person learning, teaching, librarianship, and other academic work should be paused.
U of T’s plan fails to address key questions about health and safety, including:
- Why is the University pushing ahead with in-person education in the middle of an unprecedented health crisis, especially when it will put the health and safety of students, tutorial leaders, contract instructors, faculty, library workers, staff, and the entire campus community at risk?
- How is it even possible to adequately mitigate the risks of the ‘three Cs’ of COVID-19 spread —’close contact’, ‘closed spaces’, and ‘crowds’—in a regular classroom setting?
- Why is U of T out of step with other GTA and Ontario universities that have opted to offer Fall courses solely (or mostly) online?
Given these outstanding questions, we are calling on the U of T to ’take a pause’ on most in-person teaching and other academic work for the Fall 2020 semester in favour of online-only teaching. We are also calling on U of T to meaningfully consult with representatives of frontline academic workers: unions, the faculty association, student groups, and health and safety committees.