The union that represents faculty members at the University of Vermont has filed a grievance with the school, saying that administrators failed to alert instructors when students who had interacted with them tested positive for Covid-19.
United Academics, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, filed the grievance Nov. 18. By negotiating with university officials, the union hopes to institute a contact-tracing procedure that would notify faculty members when students around them test positive for Covid-19.
The grievance asserted that the alleged lack of contact tracing violates a section of the contract between faculty and administrators that guarantees safe and healthy conditions of work.
United Academics cited four instances when an instructor did not receive warning that a student they worked with one-on-one had been diagnosed with Covid-19, as well as other instances when professors were not notified by administrators of multiple students in their class testing positive.
“Instructors are becoming aware of close-contact exposure only when they are told directly by students in their classes who tested positive,” the grievance read.
According to university policy, students are not alerted to a possible Covid-19 exposure if one of their classmates tests positive. Administrators say they enacted this policy because there was no evidence of classroom transmission during the 2020-21 academic year.
But the union has rejected that reasoning, pointing out that classes last year were socially distanced, whereas this year they are not.
In a statement, the university said its Covid-19 policies meet or exceed the guidance of state and federal health agencies.
“We take compliance and the health and safety of our employees very seriously,” Joel Seligman, the school’s chief communications officer, said in an email.
Seligman said the university invited union leaders to “share information with the university about any situations they were aware of where they believe COVID-19 procedures were not properly followed” and did not receive a response. But the grievance asserts that the university’s policies themselves are inadequate.
Most cases described in the grievance occurred when a faculty member was either meeting with or instructing a student one-on-one. While these types of interactions present a greater risk of Covid-19 transmission, they’re a necessary aspect of teaching, United Academics President Eleanor Miller said.
“It’s hard to teach someone how to draw blood when you’re 6 feet away,” said Miller, a sociology professor.
Since the situations presented in the complaint occurred indoors, school policy dictates that everyone involved should have been wearing masks. The university reports that 100% of the university’s students are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and recently mandated that all faculty and staff be inoculated as well.
For vaccinated people without Covid-19 symptoms, quarantining is not necessary after possible exposure, according to guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though the agency recommends getting tested and wearing a mask indoors for two weeks afterward.
Miller said alerting professors to the infection of a student who was near them should not fall to the student themselves.
Last year, professors received notice from the administration when a pupil could not attend class for several days, Miller said. This was interpreted by many instructors as an indication that the student had Covid-19, and effectively became a contact tracing tool for faculty.
This year, however, that system is not in place, Miller said, leaving some faculty members worried that they could unknowingly bring the virus home with them.
“The University needs to acknowledge that faculty may have unvaccinated children or immunocompromised elderly parents and immediate family members who are at increased risk and/or may not be able to be vaccinated,” the grievance said.
The filing of the grievance now triggers a meeting between union representatives and designated members of the provost’s office, said Katlyn Morris, executive director of United Academics.
If the two parties cannot resolve their differences at that meeting, the administration is then supposed to file a written response to the grievance, Morris said. After that, the union can bring the dispute to the Vermont Labor Relations Board.
But union leaders hope the administration will step in before it reaches that point and meet their demands, which also include expanding the availability of Covid-19 testing and giving instructors more flexibility to hold class remotely.
“We need a clear (contact-tracing) procedure with faculty, which we don’t have,” Miller said.
