The university spoke about the decision to return to in-person on Jan. 31, and what students should do if they fall ill and have to miss class
In a virtual town hall on Jan. 27, the University of Guelph explained its decision to transition back to in-person classes at the end of the month. This return to in-person course delivery comes amidst concerns from community members about whether the timing is right and how students will be able to catch up if they miss class due to illness.
Speakers at the virtual town hall included Guelph’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer, U of G president Charlotte Yates, and U of G’s Provost and Vice-President (academic) Gwen Chapman. Over 800 students and community members were in attendance.
After Mercer gave a presentation on COVID-19 in the Guelph community, Yates and Chapman answered a handful of pre-submitted questions. These questions addressed topics such as the reasoning behind the university’s decision to resume in-person learning on Jan. 31, and what students can do to keep up with missed classes due to falling ill and having to isolate.
Concerns about the return to in-person course delivery have been widespread throughout the U of G community since the university announced its decision on Jan. 14. Many argue that Jan. 31 is still too early to return given that the now-dominant Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been found to be more transmissible than previous variants.
To address these concerns, President Yates first began by reiterating what Mercer said in her presentation:
“COVID is not going away, and we need to find ways to continue to operate, to educate, and to do our research, under new conditions.
“We’re trying to focus [on] the balance between health and safety and that includes the physical, emotional, mental health of many on our campus and safety with the academic and research continuity, at a time when we are figuring out how to manage the pandemic as it changes.”
In addition to meeting with Mercer multiple times a week to discuss the university’s reopening plans, Yates said that the university has been operating on advice from many different experts.
“In addition to [Mercer’s] advice, [we’ve] had an opportunity to hear a presentation from Dr. Kieran Moore,” said Yates. “We also were advised by the Council of Ontario Universities, which is a group consisting of all universities across the province and has established a COVID reference group on which our vice-president of research sits, and this group has medical doctors, public health experts, [and] psychologists.”
On Chapman’s end, she meets weekly with the deans as well as with U of G’s associate vice presidents. Chapman says that she and her colleagues were having daily conversations beginning in December right up until the university made its final decision.
The return to in-person was originally set for Jan. 24. However, Chapman said that at the beginning of the month they were unsure and had to take a week to make a decision.
Chapman said they had been “trying to gather as much information as [they] could from a variety of sources about what the concerns [were], and what the priorities [were].”
Moreover, the university made the decision to “phase in” in-person teaching, with some classes starting at the beginning of January while others started the last week of January or at the beginning of February.
Yates said that the school has taken many steps to safeguard the health of its community, such as mandating medical masks and increasing ventilation in certain campus buildings. It has also considered local conditions in its decision making.
According to Wellington Dufferin Public Health, 86.7 per cent of individuals aged five years and older in Guelph are fully vaccinated. The city also offers multiple ways to access a booster dose, which has been administered to 59.8 per cent of those aged 18 plus in the community.
Another concern the town hall addressed was how students would keep up with missed classes if they became ill and needed to isolate. This is a common question amongst students that’s been circulating online, including on the r/uoguelph subreddit.
Chapman addressed this, saying firstly that instructors may shift their classes to online if need be. In order to help them do this, Chapman said that the university has been providing technological and course design support to instructors.
“Instructors do have the flexibility to make the decisions that are most appropriate for their course. We do have some courses that are fully hybrid where all materials are available either remotely or in-person so that students can easily keep up with the course.
“But for many courses—and this was really pre-pandemic as well—many of the course materials are available on CourseLink, our learning platform, whether that’s PowerPoint slides, course notes, and so on. So often students are quite able to access those materials even when they miss the course.”
In addition, she said some of the colleges and departments will provide make-up exams to students who fall ill.
In terms of advice on what students can do to access materials beyond that, Chapman encouraged students to find “study buddies” who can share class notes.
For more information on the U of G’s COVID-19 planning, visit its COVID-19 Communication Updates webpage. Students who are looking for study help can check the resources available on the McLaughlin Library’s webpage. For anyone finding themselves struggling during these challenging times, the university’s Student Wellness has a variety of resources and services to help support you.
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