I am a senior student enrolled in the College of Business Administration, and  I have concerns for the safety of my family coming back to classes this fall semester.  

Before Covid, I would walk a mile and take an hour-long bus ride to and from school every day, a routine I have done for years without a single worry. However, the world today is much different than it was then; almost two long years ago. Today, I come home every day to my grandmother and my father, who recently has suffered a stroke and is dealing with several complications. We are high-risk individuals and throughout this pandemic I have done everything in my power to keep both them, and myself safe. 

I cannot guarantee their safety if I come in this fall. Even before COVID-19, whether through public transportation, instruction facilities, or travel on campus, contact with people who were sick was never a question of "if" as much as it was a question of "when". And more than a few times these illnesses would make their way into my household through me as a carrier. With a cold or fever this was never an issue. But today we’re not dealing with a cold or flu. Today we are dealing with an illness that is not only more contagious, but one that carries a high mortality rate, especially in at-risk individuals WHILE ALSO carrying with it the potential for long-term side effects of which we don't even know the full extent of.

How are we, the University of Pittsburgh, protecting our people and our greater communities? As it stands today we have mandatory testing requirements for the unvaccinated, but still no official mandate on vaccines, and still no clear plan of enforcement. Goodwill does not stop viruses. Now is the time for caution in practice, NOT caution in creating practice. We need definitive, direct action. NOW. We have no time to waste. 

Even with current proposals there are still blind spots for transmissions that are not being accounted for. Oakland is more than a University; it is a neighborhood, it is a part of our City. As such the risks we face as a University aren’t just impacted by the actions or inactions of the college, but also by the acts of our local communities which our students and institutions are a part of. Whether through public transportation, independent businesses, or off-campus housing, students are affected by things outside of the control of Pitt decision makers. COVID isn’t an issue that is specific to University. It is an issue impacting our entire society.

To our administrators,

Let me be clear. I understand the costs that the university must consider with large scale operations.  We have sunken facility and housing costs. Costs which have already been incurred and will go underutilized if we, the students, and staff are not there. I also understand the difficulties that creating and facilitating an online learning environment provides. Yet, it is achievable, it has been achievable in the past, and some organizations have only kept improving their remote-learning facilities. But don’t take this statement lightly. It has been done in conditions more strenuous than what we face now. In 1922, Pennsylvania State University began transmitting class lectures to students through radio. Arizona State University has been dedicated to distance-learning since 1959 when they began televising their classes directly to students, and today offers ABET-accredited engineering degrees. In 1989, the University of Phoenix implemented the first college institution to offer bachelor and master programs, fully online. Technologies develop over time. And with this development comes the ability to leverage these technologies to forge tomorrow’s solutions. Today we are trying to apply yesterday’s solution to a modern problem. The creation of Pitt’s remote-learning infrastructure has been placed on the backs of professors, who, with little guidance, were tasked with the impossible task of teaching and evaluating students in an online environment. In addition to this lack of guidance we have been dealing with a lack of competency. Numerous professors have not been properly trained to conduct and facilitate an online learning environment. An oversight that has left numerous professors unfamiliar with the tools required for them to properly do their job. We don’t let the untrained build our homes, and bridges. We don’t let the unqualified perform life-saving medical procedures. So why are we allowing the unprepared to educate the people who will fill these positions tomorrow? 

The online environment, as implemented so far, has resulted in frustrations from both students and staff alike. Today, we see a sigh of relief as students try to return to in-person instruction. But this relief is not because we are moving into a situation that is good or safe. Our relief instead comes as we depart a stressful and frustrating situation, created by our online environment. How bad does an environment have to be that people are willing to put themselves and the people around them at risk; to compromise their safety to escape it?

Pitt's failures in providing quality, substantial remote-learning platforms have alienated students, leading many to believe in-person instruction is the only way to learn. Not only could this not be further from the truth, but it also ignores the needs of neurodivergent and immunocompromised students alike, who can benefit greatly from the pacing, independence, and safety that remote learning provides.

If Pitt plans to continue calling itself a pillar of accessibility and accommodation. Then remote-learning infrastructure is non-negotiable. 

There will inevitably be costs both sunken and new, with implementing and improving Pitt's remote learning program. But what are the costs of making in-person classes mandatory? The current plan contains a cost that cannot be recouped with time or money, a human cost. How much are the costs of the well-being of staff and students? The cost to their families? Friends? Neighbors? The costs of further spreading the virus? Of potentially opening the door to new variants? We have already paid this part of this cost with two years of patience and caution. If Pitt is to concede that the human cost is worth less than the costs of adding a remote option, what message does that send to the Pitt community? As the current plan stands, we are breaking the bank, writing another check to pay today’s expenses with tomorrow’s freedoms. 

Make no mistake, I want things to go back to how they were… I really do. I miss eating with all my friends, I miss parties and sports. I miss being able to physically meet the people I work and collaborate with everyday. I miss volunteering for community members face to face. I miss people. But right now, is not the time for that. It is not about what I want, but it is about the good of everyone. We do that by keeping people safe. I am not the only person who believes this. And I want to believe Pitt does too. Please. Help keep us safe.