SIU Edwardsville faculty unions call for surveillance testing or digital-only classes

Faculty union leaders at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville are calling for the university to either implement a robust COVID-19 testing and contact tracing program or move all classes online until the metro-east region has returned to the Phase 3 operations.

Mark Poepsel, faculty association president, said that without a national testing and tracing system university administrators across the country were put in a difficult position, but that they still have a responsibility for the safety of students and staff members.

“You don’t want to see people die on your campus,” he said. “I feel like the response hasn’t matched the reality. … We’re seeing what’s happening at other universities — North Carolina, Notre Dame, Iowa — and we’re seeing that could be us.”

Nationwide, college campuses have seen outbreaks of coronavirus among students. According to the New York Time’s college and university tracker, 1,029 cases have been recorded at Illinois State University and 772 have been recorded at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Michele Lorenzini, a non-tenure track union leader, said she was concerned about the accuracy of SIUE’s COVID Dashboard. For testing conducted on campus, only one of the 30 tests conducted between Aug. 21 and Aug. 27 was positive.

Community members who get tested off-campus, though, have to self-report positive cases to the university. Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 27, 12 students and 9 faculty and staff members self-reported that they tested positive.

Both Poepsel and Lorenzini said they were skeptical about the reliability of self-reported case numbers.

After weeks of rising coronavirus cases, the state on Tuesday imposed tighter restrictions on Region 4, which includes St. Clair, Madison, Randolph, Clinton, Monroe, Bond and Washington counties. Madison County, where SIUE is located, reported a daily positivity rate of 12.98% on Wednesday, with a seven-day roling average positivity rate of 11.66%. New restrictions are triggered when a region’s positivity rate stays above 8%.

Starting Aug. 24, up to 100 screening appointments have been conducted each week for those at SIUE who do not show any COVID-19 symptoms, said Doug McIlhagga, executive director for marketing and communications, in a statement. There are open spots daily.

McIlhagga said the Madison County Health Department was hiring and training a contact tracer specifically for SIUE, who would be housed on campus. There are also meetings scheduled to work on developing a surveillance protocol with the University of Illinois.

The SIUE-specific contact tracer is “definitely a good step, but not adequate,” Poepsel said.

Poepsel said he wanted to give SIUE credit where it was due, and commended the administration for sitting down with the unions for impact bargaining. The Western Illinois University Chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois recently won a labor board decision against WIU to require impact bargaining, the McDonough County Voice reported.

Faculty members who are uncomfortable teaching in-person were also able to transition to online learning. McIlhagga said 11% of classes were scheduled for fully in-person instruction this semester.

“I know they’re in a tough spot. I don’t envy the decisions they have to make,” Poepsel said of administrators. “We’re choosing between various bad options. Some are just worse than others, but everything our administration can do to keep people safe, they should be doing.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 6:00 AM.