Northwestern Resumes In-Person Classes as Petitioners, ASG Push for Virtual Options

ALEX HARRISON, REPORTER: On December 20th, 2021, in the midst of a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, Northwestern University announced that the first two weeks of Winter Quarter 2022 would be held virtually as campus entered a period of quote, “Wildcat Wellness.” Now, in week 3, Wildcat Wellness is over, and in-person classes have resumed in full. Yet many students remain skeptical of whether campus is safe enough for such a return – and some are beginning to take action.

OLIVIA PIERCE, BIENEN SOPHOMORE: “I would say I’m not surprised by how the university is dealing with everything, but I’m also not looking forward to in-person classes. I think it’ll mess with my ability to participate or focus in class, because I’ll just be thinking so much about like, how we are also close to each other.”

HARRISON: Initial COVID testing data, published weekly on the university’s website, did little to dispel concerns. Between December 31st and January 6th, Northwestern reported 909 new positive cases of COVID-19, followed by another 686 new cases between January 7th and January 13th. Despite this, Vice President of Operations Luke Figora announced in a campus-wide email on January 14th that, quote, “We are ready to resume in-person classes and activities January 18th.”

So what has the return to in-person looked like? For starters, Figora stated in the same email that all students are required to complete an on-campus COVID test during week 3, after which both the Evanston and Chicago testing sites will return to the regular hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The university has also distributed some KN95 masks, albeit in limited numbers: students living on-campus were reportedly given only two of these masks at the start of the quarter, with no plans to distribute any to students living off-campus.

The largest change, of course, was in class modality: faculty teaching in-person courses can only hold 10% of their remaining class sessions remotely without special permission, and they are not permitted to grant remote access to individual students, including those who test positive or are otherwise in isolation or quarantine.

Bienen sophomore Olivia Pierce said that providing a virtual alternative would make the return to in-person classes much safer, and that the restrictions on such alternatives is dangerous to vulnerable students.

PIERCE: “I think that it would make the most sense to have like, virtual options and in-person options, especially for people who are immunocompromised, like we should never be told that we have to decide between personal health and safety and education. Especially when like, Northwestern has the money and the resources to be able to provide more than one option.”

HARRISON: On Wednesday, January 19th, in response to a request for comment, Northwestern’s Assistant Vice President of Communications Jon Yates told WNUR News, quote, “We are not encouraging hybrid instruction, but the University does not prohibit faculty from offering hybrid courses should they wish to,” and quote, “We will continue to monitor campus developments closely and adjust accordingly based on what we are seeing,” end quote.

Some students are now advocating for changes to the in-person return plan, aiming to reduce both COVID risk and academic stress. The Associated Student Government’s Senate will vote Wednesday on a resolution that calls on Northwestern to require all professors to provide virtual alternatives, excuse absences from positive test results or exposure, and publish clear COVID absence policies in their class syllabi.

SESP sophomore and Hillel Senator Dalia Segal-Miller co-authored the resolution, and said that clarity around absence policies is especially important for students, due to the often lengthy periods of time required to recover after infection or isolate after exposure.

DALIA SEGAL-MILLER, ASG SENATOR: “Speaking from my own personal experience, I think it’s really stressful to enter a class and not really know what happens if I’m absent for ten days. So it’s really important in a time when everybody is so stressed and so overwhelmed with everything that it’s just as transparent as possible, everyone sort of knows what they’re getting into.”

HARRISON: Beyond ASG, though, an independent student petition is making the rounds on social media, garnering around 1,500 signatures from mostly undergraduate and graduate students. The petition demands that virtual classes be extended until the university provides a virtual option for all classes, distributes more KN95s and take-home rapid tests to all students, faculty and staff, and on-campus positive test results diminish enough that students placed in quarantine housing at 1835 Hinman are no longer assigned roommates.

Weinberg fourth-year Corbin Treadwell co-authored the petition, and  they drew from ongoing student movements elsewhere demanding greater COVID protocols from their schools.

CORBIN TREADWELL, PETITION CO-AUTHOR: “It was largely inspired by younger organizers that are doing some of the same work in Chicago Public Schools and in other school districts across the country. And so we kind of followed what already existed, and we were like, ‘I think we could do this.’”

HARRISON: After the petition launched, some student activist groups such as NU Community Not Cops and Northwestern Graduate Workers shared it on social media, spreading it to more campus community members over the weekend.

Pierce signed the petition, and said she believes the plan it outlines provides the best solution for keeping all students both healthy and engaged with their coursework.

PIERCE: “Student presence is obviously most important for in-person classes, so I don’t know how that’s gonna go with the coming week. But I do know a lot of people are nervous about attending in-person classes. And if people were to not attend, then it would honestly probably be safer for like, the faculty who don’t have a choice, as well as like, people who do want to go. So that’s why I feel like hybrid honestly is the best option because then it is safer for people who want to go back in-person. And we’ve obviously proven that we can have virtual classes and survive because we’ve been doing it for a year now.”

HARRISON: On Monday, January 17th, while classes were called off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, NUCNC posted to Twitter calling for a student walkout and strike of in-person classes, saying quote, “The demands of the petition signed by 1,500 students, faculty and staff have not been met or acknowledged.” Organizers held an open community space on Zoom Tuesday afternoon, where students shared their experiences and anxieties with Wildcat Wellness and the return to in-person.

Treadwell said they recognize the pressure and risks facing faculty as well, and that they hope students and faculty can work together to make conditions safer for both groups.

TREADWELL: “There’s so many people, like the  teachers saying, ‘I have to do physical or in-person classes because that’s what they’re requiring of me.’ But they’re going to have so many students already out with COVID, and more and more of the students striking, they’re going to reach a point where school becomes so disrupted that it can’t function. And my hope would be that the relationship between students and faculty is just strengthened. You know, I think that the next solution would be to really include teachers in the disruption.”

HARRISON: Yates’s response for comment included a letter from Provost Kathleen Hagerty responding to the student petition. In it, she writes, quote, “Northwestern’s COVID-19 case numbers and test positivity rates are declining as anticipated with the completion of the Wildcat Wellness stabilization period, and positivity rates among asymptomatic individuals remain especially low. The number of residential students in isolation housing also continues to decline.”

She continues, quote, “We are confident in our return to in-person classes and activities at this time given the declining case numbers, the extensive protocols we have in place and the relative safety of our highly vaccinated campus environment,” and quote, “Northwestern has not seen any transmission of COVID-19 in classrooms,” end quote. A link to the full letter will be posted with this story on our website, wnur.news.

At time of broadcast, classes remain in-person. WNUR News will continue to follow the petition and its subsequent actions as they develop. From Evanston, this is Alex Harrison, WNUR News.

Provost Kathleen Hagerty’s full response to the student petition can be read here.