In planning for the return to campus, nothing can be more important than the health and safety of all members of the campus community.
It is the university’s responsibility to ensure that any face-to-face interactions that will need to occur will not risk people’s health and will not cost lives.
The planning process has not included the voices of many union members. Workers’ voices are critical to campus safety and should have been included from the start. TAUP, TUGSA and the other unions should have been understood as key stakeholders in this discussion.
The union has convened a Health and Safety Committee, which includes faculty from a wide range of departments, including biology and public health; they have been poring over the plans provided by the university, guidelines from federal and state officials, and best practices in public health in order to identify the key principles Temple needs to follow, the questions the union needs to ask, and the demands we should consider.
Last week our Town Hall included two lawyers from Willig, Williams, and Davidson, the firm that has advised TAUP for many years. They gave a brief presentation on the ADA and the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA) and responded to members’ questions.
A transcript of their presentation can be found here, and the ensuing questions and responses are being posted here as we transcribe them. The lawyers are working on responding to questions that remained when the Town Hall ended, and their responses will be added asap.
You can find key documents, including communications from the administration, guidance and rules from governmental agencies, statements from unions, and excellent work by our members, including a “Contingency Committee Report: Reopening Guidance, Scenarios, and Recommendations,” from the faculty in the College of Public Health. These materials can be found here.
The union has had multiple discussions with the administration in which we have raised many questions, concerns, and objections that we have heard from our members. We are planning for a more formal meet-and-discuss with the administration on these issues next week. The union has been promised that more details are coming soon, including a guide specifically for faculty.
Until the administration makes its plans clear, both university-wide and at a departmental level, and gives those affected a chance to respond and have their concerns and suggestions taken seriously, we will not feel safe.
In the coming week, the Union will lay out the key issues and together we will all discuss what steps must be taken to ensure our safety and equitable treatment across all ranks.
But in union-wide Town Halls, in meetings with specific departments and school/colleges, and in 1:1 conversations, members have told us that they are not satisfied with the level of specificity provided on a host of issues around opening in the Fall, and that they have deep concerns about the details that have been provided. There is a long list of these concerns, including the wisdom of having any face-to-face instruction in the Fall; the accommodation process, especially as it bears on older faculty and contingent faculty; testing; our members’ rights and obligations if someone is violating safety protocols; members with childcare challenges; the lack of a clear channel for feedback about these plans.