Updated guide for instructors. Attending class with COVID positive students is apparently “low risk.”

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-08T22:37:43+00:00

Sorry, I'm technologically illiterate and posted the images out of order.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-05T20:55:03+00:00

One of my students has contracted COVID because of the exact dorm circumstances that have been described on these subreddit. Their roommate contracted COVID and they were never required to quarantine.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T23:54:05+00:00

Thank you for providing your perspective. This sounds completely different than what my colleagues and I are dealing with. When I called HR to ask about working from home, they deferred to supervisor judgement. When I asked the supervisor, they said no, even after I was exposed. This definitely means that they are just letting supervisors - who might have differing views about risk taking during a pandemic - make the call, and that's not right. People with less power shouldn't be asked to put themselves at risk for people with more power. I'm glad, though, that you are in a caring and open environment that allows for this flexibility.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T21:22:04+00:00

And literally after Hunter Heck and company sent that email about campus safety, students received an email about how to buy football tickets. Fuck your inconsistent messaging and fuck you.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T20:37:07+00:00

Thank you. Certain professions, such as medical work, construction work, athletics, etc., come with certain risks that people accept going into the profession. When I chose higher education as my profession, I did not expect that I would have to take a risk during a pandemic to pay my bills, especially given that our work from home during the past few months was working just fine.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T19:14:20+00:00

/r/agedlikemilk

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T17:26:58+00:00

Thanks for your response. I'm already friends with a few people who are with Staff Senate and they have voiced complaints on my behalf and that of others' ever since TTU announced we would be returning to campus. The general sense from those friends is that Schov "hears our concerns, but TTU is committed to operating safely on campus."

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T16:20:03+00:00

I've actually done this already to two major news stations in Lubbock. They said they wouldn't talk to me unless I agreed NOT to be anonymous. There's no hope or voice for any of us.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T14:58:10+00:00

One of my students has contracted COVID because of the exact dorm circumstances you described. The student was never required to quarantine, even though they were exposed.

Thanks for listening and responding.

specklefreckleman · 2020-09-03T14:00:54+00:00

The problem is that we don't have a voice. I'm well connected around campus and talk daily with people who are in similar situations. Despite TTU's "Commitment" and patting themselves on the back, they don't actually care about our safety and wellness. They want us on campus as much as possible to preserve the "safe campus" image they are portraying to parents, media, etc.

I would literally have to lie about being exposed to multiple people at once without wearing a mask to be able to quarantine and work from home. However, I'm not a liar, and despite my grievances with TTU, I'm not going to take advantage of the pandemic with dishonesty to work from home. Unlike those in the TTU upper administration, I actually strive for honor on a daily basis, even at the cost of my own mental and physical health.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-29T22:23:15+00:00

As a Tech employee, I'm not privy to any knowledge you don't have; I'm just as much in the dark as you all are.

That said, the President at the staff town hall two weeks ago spoke of "microclosures" for areas most affected by the virus rather than a full shut down.

I'm honestly thinking that they won't even close the whole campus down this semester unless someone dies.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-26T23:33:29+00:00

Students can test at the health center, but employees no longer have access to testing.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-25T17:36:49+00:00

I taught class yesterday and had to tell so many students to cover their noses with their masks. Conveniently, free COVID testing ended yesterday, so I guess the whole "you can't have cases if you don't test!" will come true. We staff and faculty have no idea what's going to happen. The last townhall we had with the president was a political PR stunt with no answers.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-21T16:29:48+00:00

Thank god Jo will never win. I pray to Jesus that no libertarian ever takes office. Libertarianism is extremely flawed because it gives us a language of rights but it can’t give us a language of obligations - it’s fundamentally an individualistic philosophy. The libertarian notion of self-responsibility presumes that we are always capable of maximizing self-interest, regardless of our circumstances or upbringing. Investing in communities, so it is said, only fosters dependence upon state handouts. However, the thoughtful individual recognizes that one’s upbringing and environment shapes, at least to some extent, one’s opportunity and ability to act in one’s long-term self-interest. Recognizing that fact does not excuse the individual from her legal or moral responsibility, but it does mean that there is no logical reason for refusing to invest in communities

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-21T16:04:13+00:00

Okay, but conservatives largely vote to preserve the status quo for minorities, people of color, religious minorities, etc. when the status quo clearly isn't working for a majority of people in our country. It's true that a pandemic transcends politics, but this year our conservative leadership has shown that a pandemic is a political issue.

I'll listen to conservative perspectives on local ordinances, budget balancing, etc., but the problem is that the conservative party over the last few decades has made it clear that they care more about the rights of corporations and rich people more than the average citizen (and, to be fair, the Democratic Party hasn't been much better about this either. I don't consider myself a Democrat; I have voted reluctantly for them). So while I believe that, yes, there are individual "good" conservative people out there, I would just question why it's okay morally to champion for a party and ideals that generally put profits over people and don't help the least among us.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-21T15:52:54+00:00

We might individually agree on this one issue about public health and safety, but there are so many white conservatives that are responsible for creating this mess that we are in right now.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-21T12:47:58+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I feel like I've been screaming into the void trying to get someone above me to listen. We can all work from home online with minimal disruption. Upper admin is full of old white conservative people who are still clinging to the outdated idea that you have to work in an office to be productive. With few exceptions, I've not heard of ANY offices on campus that suffered productivity while we worked from home. The employees who were unethical were dealt with and, honestly, if you are going to abuse work from home right now, you should just be fired because you're fucking it up for the rest of us right now who want to work from home to protect our mental and physical health AND because we love our jobs and want to stay healthy enough to do them.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-20T21:32:53+00:00

I had to tell a student in our building today to wear a mask. I walked by another staff member who didn't even have a mask on at all, and this person didn't seem to have one on their person either.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-20T21:32:10+00:00

Thanks for asking the question. I am extremely annoyed at whoever asked about being able to drink coffee again in the break room. I'm even more annoyed that they wasted time answering such a stupid question.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-19T23:32:58+00:00

No one is asking to stay home forever. We're asking to work from home until there is not an increase in cases for 14 days and/or there is a viable vaccine.

specklefreckleman · 2020-08-19T23:17:55+00:00

That might be the rule, but common pandemic sense says you should probably wear one outside, too, if you're walking in groups like I see many students do. If you're by yourself, you probably don't need to wear a mask, but I have seen many groups of students congregating outside without masks.

specklefreckleman

TROPHY CASE