A week before their return to campus, at-risk students are demanding accommodations from universities to continue their semester online.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
“No one should have to come back to class if they don’t feel safe there,” said Hannah Jamet-Lange, academic affairs coordinator for the Concordia Students’ Union (CSU).
After starting its semester online, Omicron obliges, Concordia University will call its students back to its campus on February 3. Quebec had given the green light to the resumption of face-to-face classes as of January 17, but several establishments have postponed it, out of caution, until next week.
However, the province is still at the peak of the fifth wave, and the return to class is raising concerns among the student population, reports the CSU. The exposure of students who are immunosuppressed or who live with people for whom the virus poses a risk is “a major concern” for the union.
Many students will not be hospitalized if they contract COVID-19, but there will be students who suffer more from it or experience long-term effects.
Hannah Jamet-Lange, Concordia Student Union Academic Affairs Coordinator
The CSU requires that all face-to-face courses also be recorded or broadcast live. Currently, it is at the discretion of professors whether or not to grant accommodations to students who wish to continue their semester online.
Some students are even thinking of protesting or disengaging if the administration does not reconsider its position by the return to class, reports Hannah Jamet-Lange.
By email, the Concordia administration maintains that it has “encouraged faculty members to post course content (notes and other material) online, when possible”.
“Some courses with practical elements, laboratories or studios, require a presence in class”, justifies the publicist Vannina Maestracci. The administration reminds that students who live with a chronic illness or a handicap are eligible for certain accommodations.
Several petitions
Zoé Pronovost has fragile health. COVID-19 has caused him respiratory problems. And she has never regained her taste or smell since she contracted it last year.
It was very difficult for me and my family. Is risking my health to keep up with my education worth it?
Zoé Pronovost, undergraduate student in preschool and elementary education
When the University of Montreal confirmed her return to face-to-face on January 31, the student in the bachelor’s degree in preschool education and elementary education launched a petition for the management to offer hybrid education for the rest of the term. The petition has so far garnered more than 2,100 signatures.
The frustration is not only felt among students at risk, notes Zoé Pronovost, but also among parents who fear missing classes if their child has to isolate themselves. A large segment of the student population also says that they did not feel consulted, she adds.
The management of the University of Montreal, who knows that the petition is circulating, understands that the current situation may “arouse a higher level of anxiety” among some students. “That said, everything is currently in place to ensure that the return goes well and in compliance with health instructions. We have also chosen to return to face-to-face at the end of January to give us time to prepare well for the return, ”reacted spokesperson Geneviève O’Meara.
A similar petition addressed to the University of Sherbrooke is also circulating online. A little over 570 students urge management to “do everything possible” to promote comodal education.
“This measure would be a great relief for a very large proportion of students anxious to see their university session compromised by the current pandemic situation or even worried about their own health or that of the people they meet,” argues-t- we.
keep up the pressure
“We believe it is the university’s responsibility to keep students safe, but since they are not currently doing so, we are taking matters into our own hands,” says Hannah Jamet-Lange.
The Concordia Students’ Union is working to set up a support network through which students can share their notes taken during class. N95 masks will also be distributed on campus.
“We are still in communication with the management and we continue to maintain the pressure”, concludes Mme Jamet Lange.
Lifting of the wearing of masks for professors at UdeM
The University of Montreal will no longer require teaching staff to wear a mask in class. The professor or the lecturer must respect a distance of 2 meters with the students. The lifting of the requirement was announced Wednesday in an email from the rector to members of the teaching staff. The university continues to comply with recommendations from Public Health and the Standards, Equity, Occupational Health and Safety Commission. At the beginning of January, faced with the meteoric spread of the Omicron variant, management had imposed the wearing of masks for teaching staff during the rare courses that took place on campus. Due to the health situation which “is gradually improving”, the university no longer considers that the measure is necessary. By email, the General Union of Professors and Professors of the University of Montreal reports that some are relieved at the lifting of the measure. Others will continue to wear the mask.