FAYETTEVILLE -- Faculty members at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville on Wednesday approved a resolution calling for employees to be given the choice to work or teach remotely because of concerns about the coronavirus.
The university this fall semester moved forward with its plans to greatly increase the amount of face-to-face instruction compared with a year ago, doing so despite covid-19 hospitalizations statewide reaching record highs last month. Fall classes at UA began Aug. 23.
The university's faculty senate approved the resolution during a meeting held online. Faculty members who sponsored the resolution described it as similar to one approved previously by the group.
The faculty senate in April 2020, a month after the first case of the coronavirus, approved a resolution supporting "employee choice in continuing to work remotely," and during the 2020-21 academic year many classes took place online.
Not so this fall, as the campus is again buzzing with students.
Before the faculty senate group began discussing the nonbinding resolution, interim provost Terry Martin told the group that "offering in-person instruction to our students is a fundamental aspect to the university's operation."
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
Faculty members discussed their safety concerns before voting on the resolution.
"We felt it necessary to resubmit it because of where we are in the pandemic." said Bret Schulte, an associate professor of journalism and a co-sponsor of the resolution. He added: "We're seeing children get infected at higher and higher rates, and a lot of us have unvaccinated children at home."
The resolution co-sponsors, Schulte and Michael Pierce, an associate professor of history, are president and vice president of the UA-Fayetteville Education Association, a union group also known as Local 965 that last month called for university employees to be able to work remotely.
Adnan Ali Khalaf Alrubaye, a research assistant professor of poultry science and biological sciences, said he preferred to teach face to face, but described the resolution as about giving those teaching classes a choice.
"I feel that we need really to give the option to those faculty who don't feel safe or [are] vulnerable or they're scared or they have kids at home," Alrubaye said. "Now we all know that this may not go far because of the legislator and higher powers in the state, but I hope that most of our faculty would support this because again, we have people who are really in need to teach remotely because of their health or other conditions."
Before the discussion on the resolution, Martin, UA's interim provost, said the university's Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance has guidelines in place for faculty members or other employees seeking a "reasonable accommodation." Employees can fill out a medical statement form requesting either leave or a remote work accommodation, according to the office's website.
"Once that's determined, then that office works with a supervisor, which may be, if it's a faculty, a department chair, in trying to determine what is the best accommodation, reasonable accommodation for that individual," Martin said.
Martin said outcomes vary because "every case is individual."
Schulte, during discussion about the remote work resolution, said that "a lot of these accommodations that are being offered mean removing the instructor from the course, rather than allowing them to teach remotely." He said this deprives students of being able to take classes from their choice of professors.
UA saw its active coronavirus infections among students and employees increase by one over a two-day period that ended Tuesday, according to university data.
Cases increased to 138 from 137 two days previously.
The increase reported on UA's website Wednesday reflects 19 new cases reported as well as 18 infections now considered by the university to be "recoveries" because 10 days have passed since the positive test date.