profs, u of r leadership clash on seventh wave approach to covid-19
"it's been frustrating that the university hasn't taken a lead on sharing the latest advice from public health."
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students walk throughout the university of regina on friday, september 9, 2022 in regina.
troy fleece
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regina leader-post
while university leadership says it has done its due diligence when it comes to covid-19, a handful of professors says more should be done to communicate the current state of the pandemic and recommendations from public health through the seventh wave.
“it’s been frustrating that the university hasn’t taken a lead on sharing the latest advice from public health, the latest wastewater analysis results with campus,” sean tucker, a professor and expert in occupational health and safety at the u of r, said in a recent interview.
while tucker was eventually able to secure a meeting with the provost to discuss his concerns, he said more improvement is needed.
“the communication and engagement hasn’t been great the past two or three weeks, but i am hopeful that that will change.”
tucker and others have taken to social media in recent weeks to voice these concerns, and highlight a growing discontent over how the issues is being handled by the university.
vanessa mathews, an urban planning professor, tweeted that she had relayed concerns to administration on aug. 24, and while she hadn’t specifically asked for a response, said in a direct message that no one had reached out to address those concerns as of sept. 13.
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a professor in the department of geography and environmental studies, emily eaton also took to twitter to question why information from public health experts, including recommendations to mask in crowded indoor spaces was coming from colleagues through the list serve — internal email lists tucker says most u of r employees subscribe to — instead of from university leadership.
“i sent a message myself last week to the upper administration, but i heard from other faculty members that people have been trying to communicate with admin about this since the beginning of august and haven’t been successful,’ eaton said in an interview last week.
emily eaton, a professor in the department of geography and environmental studies at the u of r, stands in the map library in the university’s classroom building on jan. 24, 2019.
brandon harder
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regina leader-post
speaking to u of r president jeff keshen just a day after eaton, he said different members of administration have been in touch with the four or five professors who have reached out, but for any who haven’t received a response, he emphasized that administration receives a lot of communications and sometimes getting back to each one can take some time.
he also noted that when vaccine and mask mandates were implemented, the university received several hundred complaints from students and staff. this time, he says only a handful of staff and no students have reached out regarding the approach the institution is taking this fall.
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“like throughout the pandemic, like when we imposed the mask mandate, and when we imposed the mandatory vaccination, there will be differences of opinion,” keshen said in a recent interview.
“i understand them, i respect them,” he added. “there’s going to be people who disagree with our approach.”
in addition to having masks available at some entrances, keshen said professors have the option to have masks available in their classes for students, and they have made students aware that they welcome masks on campus in emails sent up until the beginning of the classes.
“those people who do want to wear masks, we encourage them to do so,” he said, but it a choice he that is up to each individual.
when asked if the university feels a responsibility to encourage everyone to wear a mask, as per the latest public health advice for indoor crowded spaces, and as the outspoken professors would like to see, keshen simply said he respects their views.
“dr. (saqib) shahab and the other ones have said that statement, of course they would encourage that,” keshen said. “we respect that view and again i think that we’ll welcome and encourage those people who want to do so.”
and while the university doesn’t specifically actively relay information from the province on current advice and covid-19 risks, he said there is information and links on the university’s website and wastewater analysis results are shared on social media. after two and a half years, keshen is confident in the abilities of staff and students to assess their own risk and make their own decisions.
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“i don’t think that they are oblivious to or ignorant of or cavalier towards the risks that go with covid at this point in time,” he said, adding that while not much masking is happening at the university so far this fall, the vaccination rate has historically been very high.
when asked if he thinks the university is doing enough to actively mitigate worst case scenarios for the university and its staff and students through the seventh wave, keshen sounded a confident yes, and pointed to how in the past the u of r has shifted as needed to the changing tide of covid-19.
jeff keshen, president of the university of regina, speaks during a press conference at the university of regina on june 27, 2022.
michael bell
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michael bell
but eaton says what strikes her most is how at odds the current approach is when compared to the university’s stance throughout the pandemic.
“for the first two years of the pandemic i was really happy about the course that the university charted, which was independent and based on what we knew about public health and that seems to have come to an end,” eaton said in an interview.
“in august, they made an announcement that there will be no mandatory masking on campus in the fall and since that communication, they haven’t communicated anything more about the public health risks or the recommendations that are now clear from public health officials that masking should happen.”
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eaton said we know mask wearing begets mask wearing so it would be nice to see signs, or people wearing masks in the universities promotional videos, to more actively encourage it. as of tuesday, eaton had yet to receive a response from administration.
for tucker, he argues administration should take a more active role in demonstrating its commitment to health and safety of students by modelling mask wearing, and that it shouldn’t just be an option for professors to offer masks to their students, but that masks simply be made available in all classrooms.
he would also like to see information provided to staff with current covid-19 information from the province and public health recommendations for them to share with their students.
“if we say we are deeply committed to student health and wellbeing, then i think we do these things,” tucker said, referencing a statement on the u of r’s website.
“if we don’t change our communication and role modelling availability of masks going forward, it seems like we could be on track for fairly widespread illness among staff and students.”
sean tucker speaks at the university of regina about workplace fatalities in 2018 in saskatchewan.
troy fleece
/
regina leader-post
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