UVic students and staff express concern about return to campus
The University of Victoria (UVic) campus was quiet on Friday, but come Monday, students will be back as in-person learning resumes.
"I’m excited but also a bit nervous, probably like most people," said Victoria Jackson, a recreation and health education student at UVic.
"Of course there’s hesitations because of COVID, but if we’re being safe, I think we should be OK," said Daniella Snyders-Blok, a theatre student.
Snyders-Blok is happy to get back into the classroom because studying theatre from home is challenging.
"It’s very difficult and there’s a lot of hands-on set design that you can’t learn about online," she said.
HYBRID LEARNING
Access4All is a student-led group that represents students with disabilities, compromised immune systems and chronic pain. Access4All co-chair Jonathan Granirer says now is not the time to be going back to full in-person classes.
"Well, obviously a lot of students are really concerned but a lot of students are really excited to get into the classroom," he said.
Granirer wants to see the university offer an option or a hybrid education, "which would give students the option of attending in-person or online."
University of Victoria Faculty Association says that's not an option.
"That is something that the Faculty Association has opposed from the start," said Lynne Marks, president of the UVic Faculty Association.
Marks says the university has also been against asking its faculty members to teach a class both online and in-person.
FACULTY OPINION
The association polled its members about the return to the classroom and the results speak for themselves.
"About three-quarters are very concerned about returning at this point," said Marks.
She added that faculty would have liked to see the university hold off in its return to in-person learning for a few weeks.
"So that we could wait and see hospitalizations going down, case numbers going down," said Marks.
The University of British Columbia has just pushed back its return to in-person learning until Feb. 7.
Meanwhile, on the island, North Island College, Vancouver Island University and Camosun College all went back on Jan. 10.
"It’s been going well," said Alli Petheriotis, a psychology student at Camosun College.
Petheriotis says she was apprehensive about coming back at the start of the month, but says in-person learning works better for her.
"For hands-on learning, it’s a lot better," she said.
UVic says it is following the advice of the Provincial Health Office. That advice says the most up-to-date health investigations show that when a post-secondary student contracts COVID-19, it is often associated with a transmission at home or in a social setting, rather than classroom.
UVic is telling its students to stay home if they are sick and expects to see a higher level of absenteeism this semester.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'