COVER
GEs, PROFESSORS REPORT UNSAFE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTS
Straub 156 is a lecture hall with 500 seats, making it one of the largest lecture halls at the University of Oregon. The UO returned to in-person classes this fall after four consecutive terms of online instruction. (Ian Enger/Emerald)
BY ALEXIS WEISEND • TWITTER @WEISEND_ALEXIS As the University of Oregon’s COVID-19 cases rise — reaching 183 since week one — reports of unsafe classroom environments continue to spread across social media. Some Graduate Employees and professors are concerned about a lack of social distancing, proper ventilation and clear policies during UO’s first few weeks of in-person classes. The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation’s Twitter and Instagram account began posting anonymous GEs’ experiences with in-person classes on Sept. 29. The messages described cramped classrooms, improper mask wearing, denied room changes, windows that could not open and a lack of proper ventilation. Despite UO’s 96.3% student vaccination rate and declining case numbers throughout Lane County, student-and-employee-reported COVID-19 cases climbed during UO’s first three weeks of in-person classes. Reported cases jumped from 31 to 46 the first week of class, according to UO’s COVID-19 case tracking and testing results. The second week grew to 60 cases, and the third week saw 55 cases. However, the fourth week declined to 22 new cases. Concerns about classroom environments The university has scheduled classes at full capacity for fall term. UO does not need to apply social distancing in classrooms due to UO’s safety measures and high vaccination rates, according to the university’s FAQ page. But professors and GEs have said they are concerned about COVID-19 transmission within classrooms nonetheless. Kristin Yarris, a professor in the Department of Global Studies, said this decision runs counter to the best public health science, evidence about new, highly-transmittable variants of COVID-19 and the waning effects of the COVID-19 vaccination with time. Social distancing is not possible in her class of 55 students, and she must keep her doors open since her
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classroom — Lowkey 117 — lacks a modern ventilation system, Yarris said. The classroom also did not have enough seats for students, and Yarris asked the university for a classroom change or a few more chairs, she said. She received more chairs. School of Journalism and Communication professor Christopher Chavez said his classroom in Esslinger appeared to be over capacity and had more chairs and desks than it was designed for. “Students were one stacked on top of each other, but even to the point where they had to have additional chairs lined up around the perimeter,” Chavez said. The room’s windows were high up and closed. “It was pretty dark and cavernous,” he said. He requested to change classrooms, and the university moved him to Allen Hall the next day. Raye Hendrix, a GE in the Department of English, said her class of 109 students has no room for social distancing. “That’s been really stressful,” she said. “We are completely packed into a room that has no windows and only two doors,” Hendrix said. “Those doors open into a hallway that also has no windows.” Hendrix said there are no filters in the vents of her classroom, and the instructors are not allowed to leave the doors open. The professor of her class, Forest Pyle, said there are notes next to classroom doors that say to keep them closed during class because of noise. “Essentially, it just kind of seems like we’re just shut into this coffin of a room for hours,” Hendrix said. “There’s a class immediately before ours as well, and so we're sitting there thinking like, ‘okay, so are we just sitting in their air also? Are we being exposed like 220 people at a time, essentially, because there's nowhere for this air to go?’” Pyle said he reported his concerns about conditions of the classroom — Clinical Services 250 — to the Department of English but was assured the classroom met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
A GE in the Department of Global Studies who wished to remain anonymous said students in her classroom sit elbow-to-elbow with five to six students at each table. “The lack of air filtration in the room was concerning,” she said. “We have planned to keep the three doors in the classroom open, but already students have complained about being cold in class.” The university’s ventilation FAQ said UO has adjusted building ventilation systems to maximize outside air supply to the extent allowed by each individual building’s mechanical systems and established cleaning protocols required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the CDC. However, some buildings still rely on operable windows for ventilation. Multiple GEs said they have experienced issues with maintaining airflow via open windows during cold or rainy days. At the beginning of fall term, UO had 65 classrooms that relied on operable windows for ventilation, according to UO’s classroom local filtration map. A UO FAQ page about ventilation said the university will install portable air filtration units in some heavilyused classrooms within such buildings. UO has installed 53 units so far, UO spokesperson Kay Jarvis said.
Essentially, it just kind of seems like we’re just shut into this coffin of a room for hours." RAYE HENDRIX GE IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
