U of M forced to postpone in-person learning

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This article was published 20/12/2021 (1415 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Manitoba is postponing the widespread return of students and staff to campus and reverting to remote learning in response to concerns about the Omicron variant.

For more than nine months, dating back to an optimistic announcement in March, when the U of M president indicated he was hopeful about a “full return” to face-to-face operations in early 2022, the upcoming winter term has held the promise of normalcy.

“I’m absolutely disappointed,” said Michael Benarroch, president and vice-chancellor of Manitoba’s largest post-secondary institute, Monday. “We watched over the fall term, at least until the last 10 days, that there were very few cases around universities in Canada. There was in-person activity. We did a little bit in-person during the fall term and it had been very safe and I think many people were looking forward to coming back.”

In a mass email, Benarroch requested non-essential activities go remote and employees immediately revert to working from home where possible.

The end of the current term, which was extended into January because of strike disruptions, and the start of the winter semester will take place primarily online. The situation will be revisited before reading week ends in late February.

Also Monday, Brandon University shared plans to delay the start of the winter term and return to primarily online learning until the end of January. The University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic made similar announcements last week.

Benarroch said U of M waited to notify the public about its schedule because it needed to gather all the information necessary before making a decision and connect with public health. As recently as Nov. 26, the school had confirmed plans for in-person learning this winter; only 445 or so unique courses were in-person or partially in-person this autumn.

For graduate student Joel Ferguson, who has been calling for continued remote or hybrid courses for weeks because of concerns about the health of his immunocompromised partner and peers, the news brought about “great relief.”

“I’m happy that the classes are going to be staying online, but we now have to worry about the Omicron variant. There’s always something to worry about (lately),” he said.

Ferguson has been on campus once since he began his PhD in English literature. While he’s eager to meet the classmates he has befriended virtually, he said he is realistic that congregating on campus is still “a long way off.”

Academics are feeling the same pandemic exhaustion that people across the world are experiencing as cases rise and holiday plans are cancelled, said Orvie Dingwall, president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association.

While the union is concerned about student well-being and increased workloads to adjust courses over the break, Dingwall said faculty support U of M’s decision.

“There’s still a lot of frustration and concern that despite everyone wanting to be back in-person, the university administration was really pushing for arbitrary goals and targets,” added the union president, who represents upwards of 1,200 professors, instructors and librarians.

Dingwall said academics want their employer to make KN95 masks available and introduce portable air filtration units before in-person operations resume to pre-pandemic levels.

U of M hired consultants to perform virtual inspections and assess the performance of its heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems earlier in the fall. In total, 11 buildings were selected for additional testing and the results confirmed ventilation is within “typical and acceptable ranges,” the university said.

Among other measures, beginning on Jan. 24, the first day of the winter term, U of M will require all attendees on campus to be fully immunized against COVID-19.

Approximately 90 per cent of both its student and staff populations have provided their proof of vaccination.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie