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A week before the CDC announced the lifting of distancing and masking requirements for fully vaccinated adults, adjunct professor David Alm offered words of caution when asked to comment on CUNY reopening policies for the fall semester.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn COVID times, four months is an eternity,\u201d Alm said presciently.<\/p>\n
Documents shared with The Athenian Wednesday from Hunter College\u2019s union, the Professional Staff Congress, reveal that CUNY administration was planning for the easing of restrictions as early as May 4.<\/p>\n
Schools \u201cshould be prepared for guidance that will facilitate additional capacity by reducing the social distancing requirement,\u201d said one document.<\/p>\n
While the university system has not released concrete plans for the fall semester, Hunter President Jennifer Raab called for \u201cpatience and flexibility,\u201d in a letter shared via email with the Hunter community.<\/p>\n
The documents asked campuses to plan for social distancing reduced from the previous CDC guidelines<\/a> of six feet to three feet. Proposals of how each school plans to do so are due to CUNY central by June 15.<\/p>\n The Hunter College office of communications did not respond to requests for comment on the school\u2019s reopening proposal.<\/p>\n It now appears that CUNY schools may be able to meet Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s recently announced intent to return to as close to 60% capacity as possible this fall.<\/p>\n That announcement, sent only to administrators and the PSC at the end of April, took some by surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had heard that, something like 25% of us would be back in person and that the bulk of us remain asynchronous or online,\u201d said Hunter PSC chair Jennifer Gaboury.<\/p>\n In addition to catching Gaboury off-guard, English department chair Sarah Chinn said guidelines for her department from Hunter changed with little explanation.<\/p>\n Chinn was told by Hunter Dean of Arts & Sciences Andrew J. Polsky that, \u201cdespite many adjunct faculty\u2019s unease about returning to campus, 80% of English 120 sections would be in person.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis was quite different from what we had been told earlier, which was that faculty could elect to teach in person, hybrid or online,\u201d Chinn said via email.<\/p>\n CUNY\u2019s remote work agreement shared with The Athenian grants faculty members the ability to work from home with a supervisor\u2019s approval. It also stipulates that with just seven days notice the agreement may be terminated and the employee called back to work on-site.<\/p>\n Prior to the CDC\u2019s announcement Gaboury described numerous concerns about reopening campus with such a relatively large number of people.<\/p>\n \u201cI have already been witness to a few different conversations about things like, I don’t want to call campus security to my class if XYZ,\u201d Gaboury said, referencing professors\u2019 fears of becoming the enforcers of mask-mandates and social distancing guidelines.<\/p>\n It is unclear if the new CDC guidelines will impact mask-wearing on campus. Despite Governor Cuomo\u2019s recent announcement<\/a> that CUNY and SUNY students will be required to be vaccinated, Matos Rodr\u00edguez said vaccine exemption information would be released shortly.<\/p>\n The documents suggest that even if distancing requirements are reduced, masking would still be required on CUNY campuses.<\/p>\n