A Suggestion for Keeping Classes Safe, and More Questions
I have spent a good deal of time in the last few days trying to figure out how to help my department (and anyone else that asks) buy masks that are safe enough for indoor use during this pandemic. It turns out that it is very difficult to ensure that one is buying KN95 or… Continue reading A Suggestion for Keeping Classes Safe, and More Questions
BU’s Mask Policy is Inadequate
This is a guest post by Professor Nathan Phillips, Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University. In light of national and Massachusetts trends in COVID cases, the wisdom of re-opening BU in three weeks is becoming increasingly questionable. But if BU is going to re-open this fall, among all the safety measures it is taking, it needs… Continue reading BU’s Mask Policy is Inadequate
An Email with Instructions to Faculty
Yesterday (August 3), two undergraduate student journalists independently reported on an email that was sent to CAS faculty on July 29. Grace Ferguson broke the story with an excellent example of journalistic work on WTBU, the student-run university radio station, and Katarzyna Jezak of the Daily Free Press, an independent student newspaper, further reported on… Continue reading An Email with Instructions to Faculty
Are Faculty in Colleges other than CAS Concerned about the University’s Plans?
I belong to the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) at Boston University. I have attended meetings in this college where many people have carefully and passionately criticized the university’s plans for the Fall, especially (but not only) the way in which central elements of these plans were put in place with next to no… Continue reading Are Faculty in Colleges other than CAS Concerned about the University’s Plans?
BU Today and BU Tomorrow
This is a guest post by Jonathan R. Zatlin, Associate Professor of History at Boston University. A few weeks ago, in the midst of thinking about our future at BU, I invited BU Today to report on a letter to university leaders by the History Department, which you can find here. The letter asked the… Continue reading BU Today and BU Tomorrow
Quarantine Requirements and Compliance Issues
I recently reported that BU was planning to merely recommend that students arriving from out of state enter quarantine for fourteen days, rather than require that they do so. Fortunately, this insufficiently cautious plan has had to change because, on July 24, MA Governor Charlie Baker signed an executive order putting in place new quarantine… Continue reading Quarantine Requirements and Compliance Issues
Request / Invitation to Provide Comments
BU teachers, from full professors to graduate students, are hearing back about their workplace adjustment requests (in general, requests to be able to teach their classes online, rather than follow a hybrid model that involves teaching mask to mask). I’m providing a space for comments here. The point is not simply to give people a… Continue reading Request / Invitation to Provide Comments
Ventilation Issues and BU Classrooms
This is a guest post by Dr Sarabeth Buckley, a postdoctoral research fellow at Cambridge University. She recently received a PhD from BU’s Earth and Environment Department, where her research focused on ventilation and rooftop gardens. Towards the beginning of the whole pandemic in early February, there was a story that came out of Hong… Continue reading Ventilation Issues and BU Classrooms
Workplace Adjustment Requests Update, with Invitation to Provide Comments
On Tuesday, July 21, department chairs at Boston University were sent a memo that made a number of them angry. The memo was accompanied by a list of their department members who had filed workplace adjustment requests, indicating whether the HR Work Adjustment Request Team (WART) had decided they met the CDC high-risk category guidelines… Continue reading Workplace Adjustment Requests Update, with Invitation to Provide Comments
Troubling Developments at BU (to be continued)
I’d like to be reporting right now on what appears to be an extremely troubling development at BU when it comes to the workplace adjustment application process and the exceptions to in-class teaching BU is meant to be providing to many BU teachers at this juncture. I’ve heard enough from four department chairs (indirectly in… Continue reading Troubling Developments at BU (to be continued)
BU Today, BU Letters, and an AAUP Statement
I have received an email response to my open letter to the editor from the editor of BU Today, John O’Rourke. He does not deny that there haven’t been any articles by BU faculty or links to pieces by faculty that are about faculty opposition to the BU administration’s plans for the Fall. Nor does… Continue reading BU Today, BU Letters, and an AAUP Statement
An Open Letter to the Editor of BU Today
Dear BU Today Editor (John O’Rourke), I am a BU faculty member, and this is an open letter. As a member of the BU community that BU Today at times appears to wish to represent, I have a question to ask about the present editorial policy of your publication. Is it the policy or practice… Continue reading An Open Letter to the Editor of BU Today
Excellent News for International Students, as well as, perhaps, BU Teachers
As the reader is no doubt already aware, the Trump administration has backed down from their plan to implement a new set of ICE guidelines for international students which would have meant overseas students would not have been able to attend colleges that are going online in the Fall, and that they would have needed… Continue reading Excellent News for International Students, as well as, perhaps, BU Teachers
A City Council Meeting and Critical Letters and Articles
Yesterday, the Boston City Council Committee on Public Health met to discuss university reopening plans. Jason Prentice, of BU’s College of Arts & Sciences Writing Program, presented live testimony, and submitted a letter corresponding to his testimony. I recommend that members of the Boston University community read this letter, as well as a letter and… Continue reading A City Council Meeting and Critical Letters and Articles
Healthy people as young as 45 at greater risk from Covid-19 than people deemed “at increased risk” by the CDC
This is a guest post by Michael Otsuka, Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics A study just published in Nature reveals the following: even for someone with no underlying health conditions, the increased risk associated with being 45 years of age, rather than 30, is greater than the increased risk associated with various health… Continue reading Healthy people as young as 45 at greater risk from Covid-19 than people deemed “at increased risk” by the CDC
International Undergraduate Students, ICE, and University Policies
I am going to comment on two significant news items from yesterday. First, Harvard University announced that a maximum of 40% of their undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will be staying on their campus in the Fall, and confirmed that all courses there will be online courses (six of their graduate… Continue reading International Undergraduate Students, ICE, and University Policies
A Letter to the Boston City Council, for a Meeting on July 9
Dear Boston City Council members, We are sending this open letter to you about Boston University’s plans for the Fall in anticipation of your upcoming meeting on July 9 to discuss these plans. We are two ethics professors at BU responsible for starting a petition, which presently contains over 1500 signatures, calling on BU to permit all of its university… Continue reading A Letter to the Boston City Council, for a Meeting on July 9
BU Professors Publish in Medium and the Conversation, and BU is in the News
One month after sending our open letter to Boston University’s leaders and the university community, my department colleague Russell Powell and I have published an opinion piece in Medium that has its distant origins in that letter: Colleges Must Not Compel People to Teach In Person During the Pandemic. Please share our Medium piece with… Continue reading BU Professors Publish in Medium and the Conversation, and BU is in the News
Top Ten Must Reads from June
Here is a list of my ten favorite articles and Op Ed pieces from June that are about COVID-19 and campus reopening plans for the coming academic year. I have restricted this list to pieces that are not specifically about any particular college or state, and had to discard some good candidates just to minimize… Continue reading Top Ten Must Reads from June
A Letter from Rep. Joe Kennedy and a Letter from BU History
Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA 4th District) sent a letter today to President Brown of Boston University, calling on the university to fix their policies regarding PhD students, and allow all graduate students and other teachers at BU to “Teach from Anywhere” (a phrase I and others have been using for some time now).… Continue reading A Letter from Rep. Joe Kennedy and a Letter from BU History
A Tale of Two Letters
Two letters. The first is a letter from the graduate students and faculty of the BU English department, expressing solidarity between graduate students and faculty, in opposition to the Provost’s Memo of June 19 regarding PhD students and the “opaque process that has been poorly explained” surrounding possible exemptions. Amongst other things (including the disproportional… Continue reading A Tale of Two Letters
Racism and BU, COVID-19 in Black and Latinx Communities, and Workplace Adjustments
Originally published June 25, 2020 Yesterday was BU’s Day of Collective Engagement. It’s a very good thing indeed that the university has been asking us all to reflect on issues concerning racism that involve BU, and this request couldn’t have come a moment too soon, given the incredible moral significance of efforts to combat racism in… Continue reading Racism and BU, COVID-19 in Black and Latinx Communities, and Workplace Adjustments
CDC Guidelines Change on Day that Workplace Adjustment Forms are Due
Originally published June 25, 2020 The CDC today released new guidelines regarding underlying medical conditions and COVID-19. There are important changes to the classifications of increased risk groups. For example, it was previously stated that a BMI of 40 or over puts you in an increased risk group, but it is now stated that a BMI of 30… Continue reading CDC Guidelines Change on Day that Workplace Adjustment Forms are Due
A Memo from the Provost Regarding PhD Students
Originally published June 24, 2020 A number of people have asked me what I think of the Provost’s internal memo of June 19, regarding PhD students, which has been the subject of a social media storm, and is now being commented on in the media more generally, after somebody posted it online (not me, just… Continue reading A Memo from the Provost Regarding PhD Students
A Policy Shift / Clarification
Originally published June 23, 2020 We have been given only one week to complete and submit the online workplace adjustment form. At the beginning of the week in question (Thursday June 18) we were provided with a form that many took to be mainly for use by those with medical or age concerns, due to… Continue reading A Policy Shift / Clarification
Where are you BU Today?
Originally published June 22, 2020 Before we had finished writing our open letter to our BU leaders, Russell Powell and I were informed by BU Today that they might be interested in publishing an open letter to the BU community that we were writing. We sent it to them on June 2. We received a reply that said that they had… Continue reading Where are you BU Today?
Faculty Council Meeting, Workplace Adjustment Forms, and Teaching Rooms
Originally published June 19, 2020 Four days after a snapshot of our petition was provided to our university leaders (it remains open), I can report that a great many things have occurred at BU. Still, in the wake of emergency university meetings early in the week, one thing is very clear: the university has further hardened… Continue reading Faculty Council Meeting, Workplace Adjustment Forms, and Teaching Rooms
Petition Delivered with 1063 Signatures, a Faculty Council Meeting, and English Department Letter
Originally published June 15, 2020 This morning we forwarded our petition as it was at 9am to our university leaders (with 1063 signatures after repeat entries were removed). If anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet and the open email we sent, please let me know. Thank you very much to everyone who has signed it… Continue reading Petition Delivered with 1063 Signatures, a Faculty Council Meeting, and English Department Letter
500 Signatures in 24 Hours and Boston Globe Article
Originally published June 11, 2020 Our petition received approximately 500 signatures in the first twenty four hours, from professors, lecturers, medical professionals, graduate teaching fellows, and concerned members of the public. We are hoping to receive many more signatures, and would encourage everyone to continue sending around the above link, or the link for the present… Continue reading 500 Signatures in 24 Hours and Boston Globe Article
The Petitions
Originally published June 10, 2020 Yesterday, the university told students, “LfA [Learn from Anywhere] will give our students the option to either be in the classroom in-person or participate remotely from a dorm room or off-campus home. Students may exercise the remote option for a period of time or for the entire semester. The decision to learn remotely may… Continue reading The Petitions
Faculty Survey and Clarifications
Originally published June 9, 2020 On June 2, our university administration sent a multiple choice online survey form out to all faculty. The deadline for the survey was June 8. On June 7, one day before the survey deadline, university leaders sent out a letter and guidance instructions to all deans and department chairs, instructing… Continue reading Faculty Survey and Clarifications
Open Letter
Open Letter to BU Leaders and the University Community of June 2, 2020Russell Powell and Daniel Star BU’s plan for the fall of 2020 remains very much in flux. At the moment, however, the university appears wedded to the idea that not only should all students who are well and able take up residence on campus,… Continue reading Open Letter
