Currently, in Australia, we have ~368 cases of the novel corona-virus COVID-19. That number is rising exponentially. We are calling on the leading staff at Victoria University to make a crucial call in protecting the health and well-being of their current students. Multiple other large universities have already closed their doors and have moved to an online based teaching model.

The leading universities in these closures have been, Melbourne University, Swinburne University, La Trobe University, Monash University, and more recently, Deakin University. We, the students believe that it would not only benefit us, but the greater community of Melbourne and Victoria as a whole. Seeing as Victoria University is in the "Top 2% of universities worldwide", why not be in the first 2% of universities to take action for the greater good of the students and the country. In fact, Proactive school closures—closing schools before there’s a case there—have been shown to be one of the most powerful non-pharmaceutical interventions that we can deploy. This is crucial in "Flattening the curve" of the virus, as most countries are attempting to do. Flattening the curve takes immense pressure off of our healthcare system, and helps work towards controlling the virus by having hospital beds and equipment available.

Furthermore, Victoria University does not seem to have any online teaching measures in place at all. Teacher's that have been spoken to have come out and said that they currently have no clue how they'd deliver the online classes, and have even asked students for suggestions. This shows a great lack of preparation and organisation, seeing as most other universities have had online teaching models ready and prepared for a long time. Services such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangout, Fuze and many others are readily available and some have offered their services for FREE, and have upgraded their servers to help sustain such a large load of users worldwide.

To whomever this reaches in the Victoria University leading staff,

Please consider taking sooner action rather than going ahead with in-person classes at the moment. This could help not only the students, but the greater community, and the state.

Thank you for reading and signing.