Group of University of Waterloo students demanding improved response to COVID-19-related issues
Posted Feb 9, 2024 03:05:42 PM.
Last Updated Feb 9, 2024 03:05:47 PM.
A group of students at the University of Waterloo (UW) have penned an open letter to administration demanding the institution meet certain standards of care due to its ‘silence and inaction about the ongoing health crisis’.
Their group, called the Covid Action, Response and Equity (CARE) Coalition UW, is made up of about 10 students attending the university.
“What we’re really hoping for is a more proactive response to the ongoing pandemic,” said Ryan Tennant, a member of the coalition who has attended UW for nearly a decade. “Our letter highlights, in a really reasonable way, what the institution can help us to do to better meet our expectations.”
Maya Adachi, another member of the coalition and a master’s student at UW, said she’s noticed a lot of absentees in her classes due to illness, colleagues who have called in sick because of a lack of hybrid options, and professors and students attending classes in-person in spite of their feelings of illness.
“I think it’s very important to have those voices highlighted and for the senior administration to listen to students, their faculty and their employees,” said Adachi. “We are a community, and we should emphasize that you’re not alone when you feel this way.”
The CARE Coalition’s demands include improved communication about COVID-19, indoor air quality measures, ongoing monitoring of and response to COVID-19-related risks, and measures to support equity, accessibility and inclusion.
A spokesperson from UW responded to the letter:
“The health and well-being of the campus community is our top priority. The University of Waterloo follows all public health guidelines. We actively encourage mask-wearing, especially during large gatherings, campus Health Services offers COVID boosters and test kits for faculty, staff and students and many of the cleaning and sanitization processes instituted by the university during the height of the pandemic remain in place.”
The CARE Coalition are calling for a public meeting or town hall with the president’s office so senior administration can sit with students and staff and hear their voices.
