Thread by @ALUhawaii

We're here to update you on the first 145 results of our UH Reopen Survey. It's bleak. There is a total lack of faith in our administration and their preparations for safe campus reopening. Here's a 🧵
#OurRiskOurChoice #HigherEdWorksBecauseWeDo
@uhmanoa @UHawaiiNews @GSOManoa

Reminder that while cases are at alarming record highs on Oʻahu, UH is still planning to move forward with in-person work and learning in the fall. The results of this survey reflect our communityʻs fear that UH admin are not making decisions with our health and safety in mind.

First off, here's who responded. It's mostly grads. We want more diverse representation, so please continue to share the survey. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

Results: 1. 71.7% of respondents agree or strongly agree UH campuses should operate entirely online/remotely for the Fall 2020 semester.

2. Of the 60 respondents who said they will be working or learning face-to-face in the Fall 2020 semester, 50% said they do not want to. Here's some reason's why:

3. 70.3% of respondents prefer an entirely online class format for Fall 2020.

4. 🔥 95.9% or respondents believe all workers and students at UH should be able to choose to work/learn entirely from home without loss of or penalty to wages, funding, enrollment status, or time-to-graduation in the Fall 2020 semester. #OurRiskOurChoice

5. 77.2% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that UH is prepared to safely reopen campuses for the Fall 2020 semester.

6. 67.6% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that UH administration's top priority when considering campus reopenings is student and worker health and safety. 16.6% agree or strongly agree.
We wonder what it could be if not health and safety?? 🤷🤑

7. 77.2% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that they feel safe returning to campus for face-to-face instruction/work in the Fall 2020 semester.

Here are some of their final thoughts. They reflect fear, coercion, concern for their own as well as their families' and community's safety.

Here are our final thoughts: There is no way to guarantee safety with in-person work and learning. There is majority consensus that it is unsafe to reopen campuses for face-to-face operations at this time. Most don't believe admin is very concerned with our health and safety.

UH reopening in the middle of a deadly pandemic is a testament to capitalism's take over of higher ed. Our campuses are operating like corporations–not places of learning–by putting money over people. Money is there (endowment, admin salaries), but admin is risking our lives.

Our administrators make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and will remain safely isolated from danger while workers and students who struggle to pay for basic necessities and healthcare will bear the burden of risk. Reminder: Lassner has never once taught a college course.

At the very least, nearly everyone agrees that we each should be able to choose whether we are in-person for work and learning this fall without penalty. But workers and students are reporting that making that decision threatens their livelihoods and progress toward graduation.

What does that look like? Finding remote work for every worker who does not feel safe returning. Making all major requirement courses have a fully online option, including labs and other experiential learning!

Does that sound hard? Almost impossible? We think so too. Which is why the safest and most prudent option right now is to move again to online learning entirely, and guarantee equivalent wages for all workers.

As one respondent wrote: "It is not safe and there are no measures you can put in place to make it safe, pretending otherwise is tantamount to committing murder. If we re-open, even with socially distant set ups, even with mask policies in place, people will get sick, and...

"some of them will die. It is absolutely heinous that this is even in question. We all know it’s not safe, but UH has purposefully put off saying that we will be all online because they don’t want people to drop out. We all know that within the first week there will be...

"infections on campus and we’ll have to return to all online, pretending that this isn’t the case is a clear and simple money grab. Everyone should be charged in-state tuition, student fees should be removed, and the administration needs to say now before students begin...

"flying back to Hawai'i that we will be going all online. I live on-island year round, but if I were to fly back from New York only to be told a week later that we’re going online? I’d be livid, and rightfully so...

"You have a duty to protect the students and employees of these universities, and the only way to do so is to move all classes online again." @uhmanoa @UHawaiiNews

It's important to note, GAs, that with a union, we would have the ability to engage the university admin in IMPACT BARGAINING like our comrades @CGE6069 and @usfgau. This means we would have the power to negotiate the conditions of our return to work. #HigherEdWorksBecauseWeDo

It seems clear. #OurRiskOurChoice. Well, @UHawaiiNews, we chose. Please continue to share our survey and encourage others to fill it out and share as well, including to community colleges and neighbor islands. The more voices, the more powerful! #EAluKākou docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

@threadreaderapp please unroll