In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, concerned non-TT writes:
I'm wondering if we can get a conversation going about vulnerably employed (i.e., non-TT) faculty dealing with university administrators' unethical decision not to enforce COVID vaccination requirements for those on campus for the coming AY.
In countries with access to ample vaccines like the U.S., there is simply no justification for failing to require on-campus vaccinations (aside from reasonable, medically motivated exceptions, of course) other than kowtowing to conservative politicians making education-funding decisions and trying not to alienate parents and students among the wide swath of the population that has failed to understand the meanings of "freedom" and "choice." I take it that there is a strong moral imperative for faculty members to speak out against this wrong decision, but this of course is a very difficult line to walk when one's employment is dependent on the goodwill of administrators and department chairs.
There's also the difficulty of teaching in a mask (which of course I support, annoying though it may be) or on Zoom and garnering good evaluations for the sake of the teaching portfolio and future employment despite the fact that such classes are quite painful for all involved and tend not to be evaluated very highly.
I realize that this isn't really a question, but might be a good topic to discuss and vent about, with thanks for the opportunity to do so here!
These are good issues to discuss, and I'm curious what everyone thinks:
- Do you agree that there is a strong moral imperative for faculty members to speak out on this?
- If so, what do you think faculty should do, particularly (but not only non-TT) faculty?
I'll just quickly note a couple of things. Here in Florida, at least, House Bill 2006 legally forbids any business or educational institution from requiring vaccinations--so that's an added complication. Second, as a department chair who receives teaching evaluations for those who teach in my department, I haven't noticed a distinct problem with teaching evaluations. This last year, the average teaching evaluation scores for people didn't seem all that different than in past years. This was actually very surprising to me, as I expected the kind of impact on evaluations that the OP describes but didn't find it (either for TT or non-TT faculty). So, while I too despised teaching on Zoom and in a mask, it's not clear to me that these things stand in the way of effective teaching.
But these are just a few quick thoughts. What are yours? I'll probably weigh in more in the comments section after other people share their thoughts!
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