This letter has been published as it was written and signed. As a result it has not been edited by The Sun to conform with Sun Style. It was sent to Provost Michael Kotlikoff and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Lisa Nishii, in response to their message to Cornell faculty on Aug.11. This message stated that “the university will not approve requests, including those premised on the need for a disability accommodation, to substitute remote teaching for normal in-person instruction”. While the provost somewhat revised this policy in a message sent out on Aug.13 where he stated that “We remain steadfastly committed to offering a wide range of individualized accommodations as we resume in-person operations this fall”, there still seem to be no clear procedures or policies for faculty and instructional staff with disabilities, and access to protective gear and supplemental testing remains problematic. This letter not only expresses the concerns of the undersigned but also the concern that they might transmit the virus to individuals who are unvaccinated, immunocompromised and vulnerable to the virus including the elderly and those with underlying health issues or disabilities that may make them more susceptible to COVID-19 and the delta variant.
Dear Provost Kotlikoff and Vice Provost Nishii,
We the undersigned faculty call upon you to consider the risk you are imposing on faculty, students, and staff because of the conditions under which we are working during the fall 2021 semester. While we applaud the vaccine and mask mandates that will help to reduce the risks of teaching in-person, we are concerned that other methods of risk reduction have been abandoned. Many of the ventilation units placed in classrooms last year have been removed (or, as we have been told, the classrooms have been restored to their “pre-covid state”), so pathogens will no longer be filtered from the air. Classes will be held in person at full capacity, with no social distancing. This forces us to rely on the hope that people vaccinated against the original variants of COVID-19 are protected from the Delta and other variants, and that masks will prevent transmission of the disease.
There are, however, breakthrough infections of the Delta variant in some fully vaccinated people, and fully vaccinated people can still transmit the virus to others (including unvaccinated children and people with serious medical conditions who cannot receive the vaccine; in these populations, the virus has sometimes proved to be deadly). We are concerned that Cornell is not doing more to minimize risk and prevent transmission of this virus. We are also very concerned that this acceptance of risk will have the worst impact on the most vulnerable members of the Cornell community, as the efficacy of the vaccine wanes for those in the highest risk groups who received their shots more than six months ago.
We are concerned that because of confidentiality, and also because of fear of being stigmatized – a concern validated by your Aug. 11th message to the faculty – you may not be aware of the number of faculty and students being put at risk by this minimally protected return to in-person teaching. In that recent message, you stated “that the university will not approve requests, including those premised on the need for a disability accommodation, to substitute remote teaching for normal in-person instruction.” This message suggested that a fully or partially unpaid medical leave was the appropriate response to the risk that faculty with disabilities might face, thus putting the burden of that risk entirely on these faculty members.
In a recent town hall, a faculty member asking if they could hold office hours on Zoom was told that they should not do this, and should find a “conference room” to hold office hours in. Given how tight space is right now, this solution is in fact not feasible. Many graduate TAs and faculty share office space or work in offices where social distancing is not possible.
In the past week, some of us have observed people walking around in campus buildings without masks on. It appears that there is no mechanism for enforcement of this mask mandate. We also will not necessarily know if an individual we encounter in or outside of class has been vaccinated or tested. All we can do is wear masks.
Under these circumstances, we are concerned that some of us might be bringing the virus home to vulnerable family members who are immunocompromised or elderly, or to young children not eligible for vaccination. The Delta variant has been affecting these groups much more than previous variants have done. This concern is not unreasonable; rather, it signals our capacity to care about the welfare of others.
If Cornell truly “cares deeply about our faculty and staff,” as you said in your message of Friday, Aug. 13th, then you should show your support by restoring all of the safety measures that were in place last year. Return the ventilation units that were in classrooms and put ventilation units in classrooms that did not have them before. Give faculty and all instructional staff, including graduate students, the PPE they need. Allow for modes of teaching that make social distancing in the classroom possible. And above all, grant accommodations requested by faculty and staff who are at risk, or who have family members at risk, in accordance with the culture of care that you invoked in your Aug. 13th message. This pandemic is not over.
Best,
Kathleen Long, Professor of Romance Studies
Ella Maria Diaz, Associate Professor of Literatures in English
Masha Raskolnikov, Associate Professor of Literatures in English
Eunjung Kim, Fellow, Society for the Humanities
Julia Chang, Assistant Professor, Romance Studies
Shannon Gleeson. Professor and Chair, Department of Labor Relations, Law, & History (ILR School)
Karen Jaime, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Performing and Media Arts
Allison Weiner Heinemann, Lecturer, Dept. of Labor Relations, Law, & History (ILR)
Elisha Cohn, Associate Professor of Literatures in English
Samantha Sheppard, Associate Professor, Department of Performing and Media Arts
Derrick R. Spires, Associate Professor, Department of Literatures in English
Shirley Samuels, Professor, Department of Literatures in English
Catherine M. Appert, Associate Professor, Music
Eli Friedman, Associate Professor and Chair, International and Comparative Labor
Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Associate Professor, Department of Literatures in English
Hsiao-Ying Chang, Research Associate, Lecturer, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability (ILR School)
Ileen A. DeVault, Professor, Department of Labor Relations, Law, & History
Michael Evan Gold, Associate Professor, ILR
Kate Bronfenbrenner, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Labor Relations, Law, & History (ILR)
Felipe Valencia, Visiting Associate Professor of Spanish (Fall 2021), Department of Romance Studies
Risa Lieberwitz, Professor, ILR School
Kate Manne, Associate Professor, Philosophy
Richard Bensel, Professor, Department of Government
Marilyn Migiel, Professor of Romance Studies
Jim Gross, Professor, ILR School
Debra Castillo, Professor of Romance Studies and Comparative Literature, Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow
María Fernández, Associate Professor, History of Art
Sandra Babcock, Clinical Professor, Law School
Darlene Evans, Senior Lecturer, Knight Institute
Rachel Weil, Professor of History
Joanie Mackowski, Associate Professor of Literatures in English
Eric Cheyfitz, Professor, American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program
Ernesto Bassi, Associate Professor, Department of History
Sofia Villenas, Assoc. Prof. Anthropology and Latina/o Studies
Denise Green, Associate Professor, Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design
Renate Ferro, Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Art
Lenora Warren, Assistant Professor, Department of Literatures in English
Shimon Edelman, Professor, Department of Psychology
Chloe Ahmann, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Judith Byfield, Professor, Department of History
Linda Shi, Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning
Juno Salazar Parreñas, Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Cathy Caruth, Class of 1916 Professor of English, Comparative Literature and English
Peter Gilgen, Associate Professor, Department of German Studies
Samantha Zacher, Professor, Department of Literatures in English
Andrew Moisey, Assistant Professor, History of Art and Visual Studies
Sarah Besky, Associate Professor, ILR School
Athena Kirk, Assistant Professor, Classics
Carole Boyce Davies, Professor, Department of Literatures in English and Africana
Louis Hyman, Neufeld Professor, Department of Labor Relations, Law, & History
TJ Hinrichs, Associate Professor, Department of History
Derek Chang, Associate Professor, History & Asian American Studies
Jim DelRosso, Librarian, Associate Director, Catherwood Library
Benjamin S. Yost, Adjunct Professor, Sage School of Philosophy
Matthew Saleh, Research Associate, Instructor, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability (ILR School)
Irina R. Troconis, Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies, Romance Studies
Bruce Levitt, Professor, Performing and Media Arts
Ananda Cohen-Aponte, Associate Professor of History of Art and Visual Studies
Alex Nading, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Nicholas Silins, Professor, Philosophy
Jessica Ratcliff, Assistant Professor, Science and Technology Studies
Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, Associate Professor, History Department
Carlotta Pavese, Associate Professor, Philosophy.
Natalie Melas, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature
Esra Akcan, Professor, Architecture
Aziz Rana, Richard and Lois Cole Professor of Law, Law School
Andrei Marmor, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Philosophy & Law
Mary Jo Dudley; Director, Cornell Farmworker Program, Global Development
Julia Markovits, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Suman Seth, Marie Underhill Noll Professor of the History of Science, Science and Technology Studies
Noah Tamarkin, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and STS
Sara B. Pritchard, Associate Professor, Science and Technology Studies
Harold T. Hodes, Associate Professor, Philosophy
Deborah Starr, Professor, Near Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies
Scott MacDonald, Professor, Philosophy
Karolina Hubner, Associate Professor, Philosophy
Edmundo Paz-Soldan, Professor, Romance Studies
Cynthia Grant Bowman, Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Law, Law School
Mildred Warner, Professor, City and Regional Planning/Global Development
Jonathan Boyarin, Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, Anthropology and Near Eastern Studies
Leslie A. Adelson, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of German Studies
Elissa Sampson, Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies
Molly Diesing, Professor, Linguistics
Eric Rebillard. Avalon Foundation Professor of the Humanities, Classics and History
Stephen Vider, Assistant Professor, History Department
Anindita Banerjee, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature
Chris Monroe, Senior Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies
Casey Schmitt, Assistant Professor, History Department
Laura S. Underkuffler, Professor, Law School
Shelley Wong, Associate Professor of Literatures in English & Asian American Studies
Odette Lienau, Professor of Law
Imane Terhmina, Assistant Professor of Francophone Studies, Romance Studies Department
Celia Bigoness, Clinical Professor, Law School
Jennifer S. Minner, Associate Professor, City and Regional Planning
Jason Mokhtarian, Neuman Associate Professor in Hebrew and Jewish Literature, Near Eastern Studies
John Forester, Professor, City and Regional Planning
Anette Schwarz, Associate Professor, German Studies
Sara C. Bronin, Professor, City and Regional Planning & Associated Faculty Law School
Riché Richardson, Professor, Africana Studies and Research Center
Amiel Bize, Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Annetta Alexandridis, Associate Professor, History of Art/Classics
Annette Richards, Music
Nicholas Klein, Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning
Verónica Martínez-Matsuda, Associate Professor, ILR School
Maxim Perelstein, Professor, Physics
Valentina Fulginiti, Senior Lecturer of Italian, Romance Studies
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