This petition is from the parents of the BKin students, and we request that the Faculty of Kinesiology offers in person classes starting February 1, 2022 for BKin students during Winter 2022 term.

With mandatory full vaccination for students on campus, the risk of transmission in the classroom is minimal. Additional measures such as masks and rapid testing should allow faculty to run classes in person without significant risk of infection.

As well said on your University page: "Success for tomorrow's graduates will depend on abilities to mobilize knowledge in creative and collaborative ways with those in academia, communities, and external organizations".This is the experience that we want for our students!

In Faculty's update from December 20, 2021, it was announced that delivery of the 1-2 year required BKin courses will be online for the Winter 2022 term. While it is prudent for the University to proactively announce that all classes will be delivered remotely until January 31, we question Faculty's decision to switch to online delivery for the entire term.

Students have made their decision for this year with the expectation that the 2nd term will be delivered in person. They have already made adjustments for the past 3 semesters throughout 2020-2021 and it would seem unfair to take the opportunity for in-person learning away from them yet again.

For the 2nd year students, by this spring it will be half of their undergraduate degree (2 years out of 4) that has been taught online. This is not the university experience, nor the quality of education that they came looking for at UoT.

Based on the information from the South Africa and UK, it appears that cases and the impact of Omicron cause milder symptoms and have overall fast decreasing rate of the infection once the peak has been reached. We are all hopeful that situation in Ontario will be on that trajectory by end of January.

The experience of learning online versus being in the auditorium with your peers and engaged with the teaching professor is drastically different. In person classes are an important part of post-secondary education and a big component of building student's interest and confidence in the chosen profession. This also has huge impact on their physical health, mental health and wellbeing.

We are confident that Faculty of Kinesiology can come up with the model that allows at least some courses for years 1 and 2 to be taught and experienced in person. Most of other Faculties within UoT have been able to offer in-person classes to their early years students.