JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Faculty at the University of North Florida are asking for more control over how they teach their classes this year.
The United Faculty of Florida local chapter says teachers need the flexibility to be able to keep themselves and their families safe. They want the same flexibility they got last school year.
When you drive onto campus, you’ll see signs recommending students wear masks and get vaccinated. Teachers say this is a step in the right direction, but currently, the faculty say they have other problems.
Teachers at UNF tell First Coast News they are forced to teach in person and some don’t feel they are safe. On Thursday, they rallied before the Board of Trustees meeting.
“We are hearing from faculty that their requests for flexibility or different flexible modalities to teach their courses to keep everyone safe are being denied," said Dr. Nicholas De Villiers. "We are being told the Board of Governors says it’s a … everything is back to normal, but we think the rush to back to normal is what got us in this situation in terms of the delta variant.”
Dr. De Villiers is a film professor and the president of the local chapter of the United Faculty of Florida at UNF. He was joined by about a dozen other faculty members who want the Board of Trustees to give the control back to the teachers.
“We want to have options for faculty, options for students to be able to do what is best for them and what makes them feel the safest whatever that may be," said faculty member Elizabeth Brown.
Several faculty members spoke during the public comment section of the meeting including a faculty member who is also on the board. He's calling for mandatory vaccines for students and mandatory masks until COVID cases plummet.
Some say the situation is worse than the start of last school year.
Changes are not expected to be made on Thursday because the topic was not on the agenda.
UNF classes start in less than a week.