The University of Victoria's policy for return to in-person classes on January 24th, 2022 requires that students who display any symptoms of Covid-19 stay home and not attend classes. However, there are no measures in place to ensure that instructors allow their students to do so by 1) waiving policies wherein in a student missing a set number of classes (ex. 3) will result in failure of the course, and 2) providing students access to lecture materials via notes, recorded lectures, or opportunities to attend classes virtually as to not fall behind. Therefore, students are forced to choose between following university and provincial guidelines regarding Covid, and academic penalties for their absence from class.

Additionally, students who are immunocompromised or otherwise at high risk, or are in close contact with someone at high risk, are not being considered in the current UVic policies. They are being asked to attend in-person classes when this may put them or their loved ones at unnecessary risk. This violates the students' rights to equal access to education.

In order to provide safe access to education for all students, the University of Victoria needs to ensure that its instructors are allowing students to follow the university guidelines without risk of penalty, and provide them the resources to do so. Professors should be required to provide complete summaries of lectures in written/audio form, or video recordings of their classes, or allow students to participate in classes via video call if they are self-isolating or do not feel comfortable attending classes due to personal health risks. UVic administration must provide its instructors with the resources (i.e. computers, voice recorders, etc.) to do so without unnecessarily increasing the instructors' workloads. Instructors should be able to continue providing online instruction if they feel that this is the best way to proceed. Additional accommodations need to be made for lab and tutorial settings for students to submit assignments. Students should not be forced to put their health and academic careers at risk to follow the university's policies.