To: Chancellor Daniel Greenstein; Board of Governors Chairperson Cynthia Shapira and members of the Board; and State System University Presidents

The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, profound and unpredictable public health and economic effects on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. While APSCUF agrees with the Office of the Chancellor that State System campuses need latitude to develop approaches specific to their individual needs, we the undersigned APSCUF members call on the Chancellor, Board of Governors, and University Presidents to acknowledge and act on these points as we finalize plans for Fall 2020 (and likely beyond).

1. We affirm our shared commitment to the health and well-being of all members of our communities. We fully agree with Chancellor Greenstein that we need to answer to the needs of our most vulnerable community members. In return, we call on the Chancellor to acknowledge that faculty members’ focus on safe working conditions is driven by those very same concerns. Unsafe conditions are unsafe for every member of our community.

2. The logic of prioritizing face-to-face instruction before controlling risk is backwards. We should prioritize safety--accommodating face-to-face only where possible without putting students, campus workers, and faculty at unnecessary risk.  

3. The Chancellor and Board Chair effusively praised faculty for making the rapid transition to online learning in Spring 2020 successful under extraordinary circumstances. We ask that they continue to trust us to make decisions based on both our recent experience and our accumulated expertise as instructors.

4. Students, faculty--including new hires, non-tenure-track faculty who have not yet received contracts, and graduate assistants--and all other campus workers should be allowed and encouraged to follow expert public health guidelines. Out of respect for privacy, no student or employee should be forced to disclose confidential medical or other information as an argument for flexible work or study arrangements.

5. Student success is always a priority of faculty and staff; the Chancellor and the Board of Governors must also acknowledge that faculty, staff, and student concerns about health and safety must be prioritized, especially when they extend beyond the narrow limits of ADA accommodations during these unprecedented times, including, but not limited to: school-aged children and children with special needs; family situations that create serious complications and health risks; health conditions that CDC guidelines do not rate as severe risks, but that cause unnecessary stress while trying to teach and learn effectively in the midst of a crisis and others. No faculty member or other campus worker should be forced to choose between face-to-face work or FMLA leave at reduced or no pay.