KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2025 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

ASU Students, Faculty Upset About University's Handling Of Coronavirus Data

STEVE GOLDSTEIN: According to testing data released on [Sept. 3], there are almost 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases among Arizona State University students and employees. The university responded this week with an effort to reduce density in its dorms, but it hasn't canceled in-person classes like a lot of other universities have opted to do. And joining us to talk about the situation is KJZZ's Rocio Hernandez. Rocio, good morning.

ROCIO HERNANDEZ: Morning. Thanks for having me.

GOLDSTEIN: So what are you hearing from ASU students about these numbers? How are they feeling?

HERNANDEZ: There's a lot of concerns going around because of these cases. One of them is that ASU is publishing a limited amount of information right now. And the testing data that's coming out is coming out sporadically, usually at night, like last [Thursday] night at 9 p.m. And the way ASU breaks down that data is by the number of employees who have confirmed positive on or, on and off campus students, and what campuses people are located at. But some students want to know where exactly these cases are located, what specific dorms are they concentrated in? On Tuesday, the Undergraduate Student Government at ASU's Tempe campus passed a resolution that really called on the university to release this data regularly and provide more details. Sen. Daiva Scovil voted in support of the resolution.

DAIVA SCOVIL: So throughout this pandemic, there's been the narrative, "You have to make smart choices about like, what risk you're willing to take personally." But there's absolutely no way we can expect, ASU students, especially students living in dorms, to be able to adequately judge the risk of their situation without information about that.

HERNANDEZ: And so these students are also calling on the administration to cancel in-person classes until the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

GOLDSTEIN: OK, so what was the response from university leadership and Michael Crow about the COVID-19 cases and also the reaction to how it's responding?

HERNANDEZ: So ASU president Michael Crow, like his peers at NAU and U of A, has repeatedly said that, "Look, this virus isn't going away anytime soon, and we're just going to have to learn to live with it." And as of right now, ASU is continuing with those in-person classes in a reduced capacity, which means they're limiting the number of students allowed in the classes, and other students are attending virtually instead of being there physically. [Sept. 3], Joshua LaBaer, the executive director of ASU's Biodesign Institute, says they also don't believe that campus is the source of these cases.

JOSHUA LABAER: We know this is not happening in any major events because we're not having any major events. It's not happening in classrooms because we don't have any big, crowded classrooms. These, you know, presumably these are young, these are kids who are possibly getting out and doing more socializing than they ought to.

HERNANDEZ: And in here, he's referring to off-campus parties that were reported after the semester began two weeks ago.

GOLDSTEIN: So, Rocio, what action is ASU doing to cut back on this kind of behavior? Can they do anything?

HERNANDEZ: Well, ASU has told its students that this behavior isn't acceptable and it violates its student code of conduct. And it's warned the students that they could be subjected to suspension for hosting or even attending social gatherings on or off campus that do not adhere to public health protocols. So that would be like, you know, their being in close contact with each other, not wearing masks. But one associate professor, Leah Sarat, who's a part of a concerned group of faculty, staff, of student workers known as the ASU Community of Care Coalition — she doesn't think that the blame should solely fall on students.

LEAH SARAT: This really leads to what could be a troubling policing of student behavior and certain, sort of a scrutiny of student behavior, when really, the problem is the way the university has set a tone indicating that it is safe to come back, it's safe to be back in dorms. And we think that the responsibility should really lie at that highest level.

HERNANDEZ: And like students, the coalition has been calling on more detailed COVID-19 testing data, more transparency on whether ASU's using any public health metrics to decide whether it’s appropriate to keep its dorms and campuses open and continue the in-person classes. And if so, what are those metrics?

GOLDSTEIN: And that is KJZZ's Rocio Hernandez with the latest on ASU dealing with COVID on its campuses. Rocio, thanks very much.

HERNANDEZ: Thanks for having me.

 

More Stories From KJZZ

Steve Goldstein was a host at KJZZ from 1997 to 2022.