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As in-person classes resume at Syracuse University, some faculty question whether bringing students back to campus was the right choice.

Several professors told The Daily Orange that they’re skeptical that the university’s hybrid course model — in which some students attend class in person and others join virtually — will fully engage students or prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

And while the university provided faculty with several resources in preparation for reopening, some professors said they felt SU largely left faculty out of its decision-making process for the fall semester.

Lori Brown, an architecture professor, opted to hold her classes using SU’s hybrid model, in which only half the class meets in person for most sessions. She’s also making use of the 21 outdoor teaching tents SU has installed on both Main and South campus to host some in-person classes with all students in attendance.

She’s optimistic about the new teaching format and hopes in-person meetings will help prevent students from growing tired of online classes. But outdoor classes still pose challenges, she said.

She worries that class discussions will be difficult with everyone wearing masks and spread six feet apart, and she’s not sure where the classes will meet once the weather turns cold.

“There’s all these other factors one has to take into account that we wouldn’t have to normally,” Lori said.

Courses that require hands-on interaction with the subject matter, such as science labs and multi-hour studio courses, pose a greater challenge, said Laura Heyman, a professor in the department of transmedia and the art photography program coordinator in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Heyman worries that students spending long periods of time in rooms that host multiple classes a day could lead to the transmission of COVID-19, she said. Some of the department’s studio classes meet for four hours at a time.

Students attend in-person classes while wearing masks and following health guidelines. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

David Larsen, an associate professor and environmental epidemiologist, believes SU is leading the region and country in how colleges respond to the pandemic. Larsen served on SU’s Public Health and Emergency Management Subcommittee, the group tasked with advising administrators about the health implications of reopening.

Rather than focus on testing students repeatedly, which can be impractical and can limit resources for the surrounding community, university officials opted for targeted testing that focuses on identifying infections and limiting transmission of the virus, Larsen said.

“I just don’t understand what the benefit is of being physically in the same place but under those circumstances,” said Harriet Brown, a magazine, news and digital journalism professor. “I don’t personally think it is worth the risk — the inevitable risks — of what will happen.”

When Harriet first thought about returning to the classroom this fall, she wondered what the room would look like. She began to feel that an important component of her classes would be lost if students were required to practice social distancing and wear masks that prevented them from fully seeing each other’s faces.

Ultimately, Harriet decided to host her class over Zoom, as many professors did when SU classes first transitioned online in March.

“It’s going to be a better educational experience for my students for us to be on Zoom, where we can see each other’s faces, as opposed to being in a classroom with masks, socially distanced, only half the class there,” Harriet said.

Mark Rupert, a political science professor, said he applauds SU’s administration for trying to make campus as safe as possible. But even with the university’s efforts, he doesn’t feel safe on campus and will teach online this semester.

“The ability of the SU administration to control the environment extends only so far, and the campus can’t be isolated in a bubble,” Rupert said in an email.

Rupert, who lives in the University Neighborhood, has already seen large parties and groups of students interacting without masks. Videos of a Wednesday gathering of over 100 students on the Quad have circulated on social media and have made national news.

“Sooner or later, I fear that groups of students will come into contact with others who are contagious and the virus will take hold among the campus community,” he said.

Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie, head of SU’s COVID-19 response, said Sunday that early test results from students have led him to believe that student gatherings like the one on the Quad will not lead to an outbreak on campus. Only 0.24% of SU students had tested positive for the virus as of Saturday, and the university had succeeded in isolating all infections, he said.

Lori worries not only about the physical health concerns that the virus poses but also about the mental and emotional toll it can take on students who are struggling financially or who have lost friends or family due to the pandemic.

“The emotional and mental health concerns I think will be even more intense given that we’ve been doing this now for six months,” Lori said.

SU installed tents for professors to hold classes outside. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Beyond concerns about the safety and effectiveness of in-person classes, several professors, including anthropology professor Deborah Pellow, said SU hasn’t made faculty integral to their decision-making process.

“The administration has had an impossible task, and I envy none of them,” Pellow said. Still, she said, faculty have not been sufficiently represented in the committees in charge of the university’s reopening plans.

SU established the Fall 2020 Open Working Group in May to develop plans for safe on-campus classes in the fall. The 90-person group of deans, faculty and staff included nine subcommittees to focus on areas such as athletics, academics and infrastructure.

John Liu, interim vice chancellor and provost, said in a statement to The D.O. that faculty have been involved in “every aspect” of planning for reopening this fall semester. More than 30 faculty members were involved in the working group’s subcommittees, and more than 50 participated in focus groups that the Academic Strategy Subcommittee hosted, Liu said.

The university also hosted more than 18 online engagement sessions for faculty, including meetings with each of SU’s colleges and five additional listening sessions. Administrators will continue to host the sessions on a monthly basis through November, Liu said.

“In spite of the pandemic, we also made every effort for shared governance,” Liu said.

Professors concerned about faculty involvement in SU’s reopening plans said that, though the university communicated about resources available to them for the fall semester, the university often made critical decisions without their input.

“The majority of the people at the table in these kinds of situations and conversations should be faculty,” Heyman said. “That has definitely not been the case.”

Harriet, who has tenure, said faculty and staff had “no say” in SU’s decisions about bringing students back to campus. She’s worried about staff and non-tenured faculty who might not feel comfortable opting to work online for fear of it affecting their careers.

Liu said that he has told faculty on many occasions that “the decision on how to teach fall classes is theirs and theirs alone.”

But messages coming from administrators have contradicted that sentiment, Harriet said. Statements from SU officials saying that the majority of instruction would feature an in-person component pushed faculty toward teaching in person, she said.

“There’s been a lot of pressure on faculty to be face-to-face — a lot of pressure,” Harriet said. “I know, because I’ve talked to a number of them that desperately did not want to teach in-person, but they didn’t feel they could make that choice.”

Lori hopes SU officials will prioritize including faculty, staff and students in its future discussions concerning COVID-19.

“We would like to collaborate and work with the administration, but we don’t always seem to be given that opportunity,” she said.

Published on August 25, 2020 at 12:04 am

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3