Hello all. I’m here today to start a petition for the option of remote learning at the University of California San Diego. There are a few reasons for this petition. I’ve come across many students that have a housing crisis on their hands as they are unable to apply for housing on campus due to max capacity. Other options include finding apartments, however the prices of apartments are so expensive that there is no way a typical student can afford to live off campus and it is not ideal at all. 

I also want to express the seriousness of the new COVID variants and the exponential increase in new cases week after week! It’s not just here but in many areas all over the country and the world. I know remote learning might not be a popular option but the health of our students, staff, and faculty as well as everyone around us is at stake and we should continue remote learning at least as an option for all classes to be hybrid. I wonder how we can even maintain social distancing when classes are at maximum capacity? As we keep seeing rising rates in new COVID cases, we are hypothetically bound to undergo lockdown again aren’t we? So why not allow students to take remote learning again? I know many international students are also restricted in many ways to come back and have in person learning.

Besides the housing crisis, if we are inevitably switching back to remote learning due to rising cases of new variants, then shouldn’t we just have it announced as soon as possible instead of wasting time and money to get situated at our campuses? There are many who struggle financially, especially in this pandemic so it’s very difficult to find options for housing during this time and even if some students commute from home, there are many that would have to drive hours from their home to campus. There are also many students who don’t even live in San Diego, which would be much more difficult. Even if they were able to travel, the cost of a parking pass, the struggle to find a parking spot, and gas for traveling would all become too expensive. We students want to feel as much ease and stress free as possible during this pandemic because we are already dealing with a lot of problems. I should also mention that many people are against taking the vaccine and have petitioned against it, which is also worrisome. 

I think that remote/hybrid learning is definitely doable as professors can record their live classes for the remote learners while maintaining their stance for in person learning for the other students. Other universities such as UC Merced have petitioned to try and have remote/hybrid classes as well and they express similar concerns. One more year of remote learning won’t have as much of a negative impact as in person learning given the pandemic, so as a worried student, please consider signing this petition for the health and safety of everyone, thank you so much!