11/15/18 10k UPDATE:

We did it, guys! All classes today and tomorrow are cancelled.
Thank you to everyone who supported us. Whether you are a student, faculty, friend, parent, or share no connection to the USF community, it took your signature and your support to get our message across.
Sayeh Jafari

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We did it! In less than 24 hours, 10,000 of you stood up and made your voices heard. 10,000 of you shared the petition with your friends and family to get more people aware about this issue. Some of you even went the extra step to call and/or email Provost Heller’s office. This is an example of democracy in action and I hope that this moment inspires you to seek change when institutions fail to protect you. Because of you, the University of San Francisco is shutting down all of its Northern California campuses until Friday. I applaud all of you that stood up for what this institution means and to fight for it’s Jesuit values to be heard and honored. Sayeh and I could not have done this without you. May this inspire and show everyone that change starts from the ground up. I’m humbled and grateful that we were able to “change the world from here.”

-Ethan Tan ‘22

8.5k update: The PurpleAir.com 132 panhandle reading was taken INDOORS. The correct average was 213. 

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As we write this, the air quality index is at 177, 17 units over what is already considered “unhealthy.” 

Ethan Tan, '22
"The University of San Francisco prides itself on its Jesuit values, mainly on Cura Personalis or care of the whole body. The University is disregarding the “care of the whole body” by not cancelling classes on Thursday Nov. 14 and Friday Nov. 15 in light of the wildfires that are currently burning in Butte County.

The University Administration, primarily Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Donald E. Heller, and President Paul J. Fitzgerald S.J. have failed to take adequate action in the face of the wildfire smoke pollution in the City of San Francisco.

Currently, as we are writing this, airnow.gov shows that the current Air Quality Index level is at 180, which the Environmental Protection Agency categorizes as “Unhealthy to all.” This is 30 points higher than the threshold for “Unhealthy for sensitive groups.”

With the main USF Hilltop campus spread over 55 acres and with students on the Hilltop having classes in both Lone Mountain and the lower part of campus, students are exposed to the unhealthy amount of smoke in the air. With the journey from Lone Mountain to lower campus, and vice versa, taking about 5-10 minutes each way, students are subjecting themselves to toxic amounts of pollution. As the University is inadequately prepared to take action in this situation by not providing the majority of students with at least N95 standard masks and by only distributing them via Public Safety delivery, we are asking the University Administration to cancel classes for the remainder of this week and potentially reopen on Monday, based on predictions and forecasts on Sunday night.

As numerous sources and health experts testify to the media and with airnow.gov forecasting even higher levels of pollution in the next two days, we urge the University to take action and to join other nearby educational institutions including San Francisco State University (which is further South than USF’s Hilltop campus), the University of California, Davis campus, and potentially join the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco Unified School District  in cancelling classes for the remainder of the week."

UCSF, SJSU, SFSU, and UC Davis have cancelled classes. The current air quality is worse than when classes were cancelled due to last year’s wildfires. 

Keep signing and keep sharing this petition. Students cannot learn or study in this environment.