University of Arizona graduate students are raising concerns about the Tucson-based school’s plan to start in-person classes as the coronavirus pandemic continues. They are part of the Coalition for Academic Justice at the University of Arizona (CAJUA), a group formed by graduate students, faculty and staff. They are asking for more clarity on the university’s data-driven re-entry plan.
“It’s just not clear the actual data that they’re using to guide this plan despite them claiming it’s a data-driven re-entry plan in the last couple of weeks," said Casey Richardson, a Ph.D. student in the second language acquisition and teaching program.
The group is asking the university to make its COVID-19 case and transmission data publicly available and release a re-exit plan and criteria for determining when a future campus shutdown is warranted.
“Are we going to close down when one student gets sick, when 100 students get sick, when a staff member dies, a faculty member dies? When are those decisions going to be made?" asked Ruth Oropeza, a Ph.D. candidate at the university's history department.
The group is also concerned about what impact bringing students back to campus will have on the larger Tucson community and its residents.
