Further, we appreciate and respect that there are wide and varied opinions regarding not only what to do next, but also about the decision, made in collaboration with local public health officials, to bring students back to UD this fall.
“We have seen firsthand as well as heard accounts of significant increases in student compliance with campus safety procedures. We feel that healthy students, or roughly 97 percent of our current campus population, and our faculty and staff would have minimal risk in on campus environments once the spread is contained and students are consistently compliant with safety regulations."
We also, as members of the community, recognize the dangers COVID-19 represents to the world and some of its most vulnerable populations. Nevertheless, a Cornell University study recently found students would be safer on campus than off. With both local knowledge and results of modeling from other university studies, we believe that the benefits of in-person instruction for students on campus outweigh the risks at our university.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
The recent spike in cases at UD has necessitated measures to control the spread of the disease. In fact, the increase in cases is, in large part, due to targeted testing of clusters of positive cases.
In other words, by design, this process has identified more cases in order to help isolate them while they recover from what has largely been mild symptoms, and to protect others from potential infection.
UD’s approach to testing students and keeping them contained is consistent with its values of keeping our students and community safe. In fact, every step of the Path Forward plan is designed with that purpose.
COVID-19′s eventual appearance on campus was never denied, and so we are grateful to university leaders, colleagues and community partners who worked tirelessly these past months with city, county, and state officials as well as medical experts to develop a robust plan for in person learning and living.
We extend our appreciation and grace to all who have given so much time and effort in to help our campus and our community face this difficult situation head on. The plan they created for containment, particularly in academic areas, remains strong and in accordance with our best understanding of the multiple measures to take to reduce the risk of transmission.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Additionally, accommodations for students, as well as staff and faculty that may be at increased health risk, are built into our campus plans. These accommodations are not simply to comply with a regulation, but truly are out of respect and concern for those with whom we work and learn, as well as those we live with in the Dayton community.
Even under these circumstances, we believe people can and should be afforded their own agency in making choices that are right for them, and that we should not make choices for them.
The University has made substantial good faith efforts to create policies which take into account faculty, staff and student needs during these times. When possible, we should continue as we have been planning all summer, to allow students to opt into remote learning, but should open the campus for those who are healthy and wish to stay.
“Furthermore, the risk for collateral damage extends far beyond our campus borders. Businesses in Dayton and the surrounding areas rely heavily on the university and the influx of students turned customers. If our on campus presence is gone it will have significant financial implications for many locally owned businesses. This will have long term damage for the City of Dayton."
For our students, even well designed online video classes are no substitute for an on campus learning environment. There are substantial risks to student mental health associated with long hours online and relative confinement to residences. The hands-on element of learning also disappears.
Our first-year students have lost their high school graduations, and our seniors are at risk of finishing their education with one and half years of it delivered through required online instruction. This presents long-term ramifications for student and citizen development. Although we believe our colleagues have prepared incredibly well for distance learning environments, we believe the social, emotional, and societal benefits of on campus life under the conditions university leaders have established outweighs the health risks for most of our students.
Furthermore, the risk for collateral damage extends far beyond our campus borders. Businesses in Dayton and the surrounding areas rely heavily on the university and the influx of students turned customers. If our on campus presence is gone it will have significant financial implications for many locally owned businesses. This will have long term damage for the City of Dayton.
Our first-year students have lost their high school graduations, and our seniors are at risk of finishing their education with one and half years of it delivered through required online instruction. This presents long-term ramifications for student and citizen development.
As university citizens, we pride ourselves on being the University OF Dayton, not just a university in Dayton. We truly care about our community, and our decisions must be made with that broader impact in mind.
This economic upheaval will also potentially impact the lives of our employees, some of whom bore the brunt of financial restrictions and staffing changes earlier this summer. We do not wish to return to those difficult conditions. For them we must endeavor to keep students on campus and provide them the high quality education UD offers while ensuring they act as responsible members of the Dayton community and abide by public health protocols.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Even with the economic considerations, the safety of students, faculty, staff and the Dayton community have been the top priority in the university’s Path Forward plans.
We have seen firsthand as well as heard accounts of significant increases in student compliance with campus safety procedures. We feel that healthy students, or roughly 97 percent of our current campus population, and our faculty and staff would have minimal risk in on campus environments once the spread is contained and students are consistently compliant with safety regulations.
We owe it to our students--the vast majority of whom who are demonstrating grace, resilience, and courage--to show them the same.
In the midst of the upheaval we’re experiencing in our world, we owe it to them to provide them similar experiences—waving hello to a passing friend while eating lunch, a visit to a professor’s office hours, or a walk to connect with a new friend that may end up being a lifelong one.
As a campus, one that is rooted in its distinctive residential nature, our community is not simply houses, buildings and green spaces, it is the people that fill those. We must give our students, and the staff and faculty that work in support of them, a chance to navigate this turbulent time together. We therefore endorse and support the measures the university is taking to bring students back for in-person instruction.
Our community has worked together to endure and overcome tragedies and challenges throughout history. Whether it was cholera epidemic in the 1800s, the flood in the early 20th century, or the tornadoes and Oregon District shootings of last year.
Dayton means resilience, and as the University OF Dayton, we want our students to exemplify our shared home’s most treasured characteristic. We must bring our students back for in person instruction as soon as the spread is reduced and contained. We believe in our students, we believe in our university, and we believe in our city.
Diana Cuy-Castellanos, Associate Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition
Anne Crecelius, Associate Professor of Health and Sport Science\
Lee Dixon, Professor of Psychology, Department Chair
Martha Henderson Hurley, Professor and Director of Criminal Justice Studies
Vince Lewis, Fifth Third Bank Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Director L. William Crotty Center for
Entrepreneurial Leadership
John McCombe, Professor of English, Director of University Honors Program
Nancy Martorano Miller, Associate Professor of Political Science, Associate Director of
University Honors Program
Grant Neeley, Associate Professor of Political Science, Department Chair
Sabrina Neeley, Associate Professor of Health and Sport Science, Associate Dean School of
Education and Health Sciences
Michelle Pautz, Professor of Political Science, Assistant Provost for the Common Academic
Program
Danielle Poe, Professor of Philosophy, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
Andy Slade, Associate Professor of English, Department Chair
Kim Trick, Principal Lecturer of Chemistry, Assistant Dean College of Arts and Sciences
Sam Wallace, Professor of Communication
Verb Washington, Lecturer of History, Assistant Dean of Student Academic Affairs, College of
Arts and Sciences
Joseph M. Valenzano, III, Professor of Communication, Department Chair