August 26, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
The SCFA Executive Board wanted to alert you to the below message we sent yesterday to campus administration. We have heard from members who have concerns about returning to in-person teaching next month in light of continuing uncertainty about COVID, and while we are eager to return to the classroom with our students, we believe the best course is to allow maximum flexibility to instructors in determining how to deliver their courses this fall.
Please be in touch with the SCFA if you have thoughts, questions, or concerns.
Sincerely,
The Executive Board of the SCFA
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We have been hearing from SCFA members about concerns they have about teaching in-person this Fall in light of continuing uncertainty with regard to the COVID pandemic. We understand that you are currently developing guidelines and we wanted to voice SCFA’s strong support for maximum flexibility for senate faculty, lecturers, graduate student instructors, and teaching assistants this Fall in choosing whether to teach remotely or in-person. We all are eager to get back into the classroom with our students, but given people’s health concerns and the considerable uncertainties of this moment, we think it best to allow instructors to decide how they would like to deliver their instruction. As we mentioned in our letter from May 2021 (with UC-AFT and UAW), we think a clear signal of the administration’s flexibility would be the just and humane thing to do.