Dear President McInnis,
The pandemic has taken a dangerous turn and it is time for SBU to pivot on fall semester planning and our imminent return to campus.
At this time, we face a rapidly changing pandemic landscape that requires a significant reexamination of the current approach to the fall semester. Understandably, SBU administration’s planning for this fall was based on conditions of this past spring. Last spring, the Delta variant was not dominant, the daily caseload numbers in NY were quite low, the vaccine rollout appeared to be efficiently moving forward, and full FDA approval of the vaccines were anticipated and would have provided legal cover to require vaccination on our campus. Those conditions no longer apply.
Nationally, we are lingering at a point where approximately 50% of the population is fully vaccinated. In Suffolk County, 44% of the population is not fully vaccinated. We also have exploding case numbers nationwide and locally, driven by the Delta variant. Indeed, the 7-day rolling average case numbers in Suffolk County today are more than double those seen at this date last year.
The CDC has recently concluded that vaccinated people likely are spreading the delta variant, potentially as effectively as unvaccinated people. Because of this, the CDC has recommended that all people wear masks when indoors regardless of vaccination status if they are in areas of the nation with substantial rates of transmission. As of last week, these areas included NYC, Nassau, and Suffolk counties. This comes on the heels of CDC internal reports indicating the delta variant is several times more transmissible than other strains and that nationally, at least 35,000 vaccinated individuals will likely test positive for the virus every week. The NYSDOH documentation, that is currently linked to the SBU SOLAR covid affirmation that we all have been asked to acknowledge, already recommends both masking and social distancing indoors when the vaccination status of the population is unknown.
The current plans that SBU has publicly announced would send us into the fall semester with no mask mandate, no comprehensive vaccine mandate, no social distancing or de-densification in classrooms, full occupancy of the residence halls and classrooms, no contingency plan for faculty to teach online, no classroom policy on what to do when students test positive or indication for when a course would need to be switched to remote delivery and for how long, a very limited telecommuting policy, and an inflexible approach to remote work requests.
We understand that the administration is actively working to make some adjustments to respond to the recent developments, but we are frustrated that the urgency of the moment has not been met by appropriate action. As of tomorrow, Monday, August 2nd, the administration has mandated a full-time, in person return of our professional staff members to campus. Many staff work in shared spaces where their health will be placed in jeopardy unless thoughtful policies are in place.
To address our concerns, we made the following specific requests to the administration last week that we feel are essential to the health and safety of our members, our students, and the community:
- A universal mask mandate for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors who are indoors in any campus facility. This should be mandated irrespective of vaccination status, both because the data indicates this need and because vaccine status is unverifiable.
- Social distancing in all indoor spaces including classrooms. We cannot allow high density occupancy of people with mixed and unknown vaccination status. Even with a mask mandate, the efficiency of spread of the delta variant is too high.
- The university needs a clear, centralized and transparent process by which all faculty and staff can request remote work assignments. Such requests should not require medical or other documentation because the risks of the pandemic are ample justification. There should be a transparent appeals process for denials of such accommodation requests.
- The university should provide fully transparent access to HVAC specifications in every building and room on campus.
The memorandum issued by Chancellor Malatras to all SUNY campuses on July 7, reiterates the need to follow CDC guidelines as they apply to a campus community of mixed vaccination status. Malatras’ memo explicitly states that the policies outlined in the memorandum, and recommended by the CDC, are the minimum required on each campus. In that memo, he explicitly empowers each campus administration to enact more strict measures at their discretion. This memo makes it clear that the SBU administration has the autonomy to enact more stringent measures to meet the urgency of this moment.
In the interests of preserving the health and safety of our members, and of the campus community at large, we insist that the administration enact the policies that we call for above so that they are in place before the start of the fall semester.
Over the past 17 months, our members have worked far beyond their professional obligations to meet the needs of our students, and to uphold Stony Brook University’s mission. While we share the desire to return to normalcy after this very trying period, it is critical that we avoid the temptation to rush this process at a time when infection rates are surging.
Sincerely,
Andrew Solar-Greco, President, and the Chapter Officers
UUP Stony Brook West Campus Chapter
cc: UUP Stony Brook West Campus Chapter Members
Fred Kowal, UUP President