Temple Email

To whom it may concern,

Hello, I am _______ and I am a ________ at Temple University, completing a degree in______. I hope this email finds you well. I am emailing in regards to the Fall 2020 scheduling changes made in the past week and to the lack of transparency that Temple University has operated under recently. On June 2nd, 2020, at 12:22 PM Richard Englert, President of Temple University, sent out an email to the Temple student body. In this email, President Englert wrote about Temple University’s plans for the 2020 Fall semester. He wrote, “It is our intention for learning to be blended this fall, with classes being taught both in-person and virtually.” This email signaled to Temple Students that they would in fact have in-person classes, along with virtual ones, and so students proceeded with plans such as signing lease agreements. Some students who were unsure if they wanted to take a semester off in case classes were virtual, believed that would no longer be an issue, and so decided to continue with their attendance for the Fall of 2020.

On the week of June 28th through July 2nd, Temple students began to notice a massive change in their scheduled classes for the 2020 Fall semester: a shift from in-class learning to virtual learning. Students reached out to fellow peers in search of answers because, to our surprise and disappointment, Richard Englert made no effort to contact the student body about these specific changes. In the email sent on June 2nd, it was insinuated that classes would be “blended”. However, whereas the student body had expected a combination of virtual and in-person classes, they are now faced with a largely virtual learning experience prepared for them for 2020 Fall, with the only notification being a sudden change in our rosters. Personally, I have ___ virtual classes out of _____ classes, and only _____ in-person class/es.

My disappointment lies not in the prospect of taking online courses, as I recognize this is the safest option for myself, as well as for my Temple community. My disappointment is in the lack of communication we have been receiving from Temple University itself. I feel bad for my fellow students who signed those lease agreements when they otherwise might have stayed home if they had known beforehand that most classes would be virtual. I feel bad for my fellow students who wanted to spend their last semester at University in person, and so (had they known almost every one of their classes would be online) would have taken some time off so that their last semester could be exactly what they wanted.

As a student who pays _____ a year to attend this University, I feel I have the right to be kept in the loop about where my money is going and what is happening at my University. This has not been the case. If most classes are online, why am I spending the same amount as I would for an in-person education on an online education I will irrefutably get less out of? If I am to be learning virtually, why are my tuition dollars accounting for a building I will not be taught inside of? And if I am learning virtually, can I expect the same quality of education out of professors who are unaccustomed to working digitally in order to teach their classes? These questions and more go unanswered, largely due to the lack of transparency that goes on at Temple University between its students and its decision-makers.

No one could have expected a pandemic, nor could one have expected what the world is going through at this moment. However, what we as Temple students absolutely do expect is an open line of communication between Temple officials and us, their students. We want clarity, we want transparency, and we want an apology: an apology for the misleading nature of President Engler’s email, an apology for the lack of communication when massive changes to the schedule were occurring, and an apology to students who expect more out of their University.

We would rather be told that the board members are having difficulty in making decisions around an unprecedented situation than be misled or kept out of the loop. At least then, it would be honest.

Sincerely,

__________