Can professors force students to attend class in person?

[Anonymous]

Is your dd 3 yo? Adults are capable of wearing a mask for a couple of hours. If you don’t want her to do that, be prepared for her to take a fifth year to finish her degree.

[Anonymous]

Call the Dean is Students. I know of NO college that is not offering distance earning as an option. I am a professor myself. I strongly suggest that your daughter write the Dean of Students to confirm what she is hearing. She can cc: you, and raise her concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^looking at the walls

Unfortunately, everyone in the surgical suite is masked the full time -- you have to wear a mask even to enter the area, much less the OR rooms -- so they are all totally unable to reorient the surgeon. It's been a disaster for the last 50 years or more.

What the heck are you talking about?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^looking at the walls

Unfortunately, everyone in the surgical suite is masked the full time -- you have to wear a mask even to enter the area, much less the OR rooms -- so they are all totally unable to reorient the surgeon. It's been a disaster for the last 50 years or more.

What the heck are you talking about?!

I am talking about sarcasm.

[Anonymous]

Have her talk to the professor. My first thought was that the change is to help international students affected by the new
ICE rule that they would have to leave the US if classes are online. There may be a workaround for her.

[Anonymous]

Can she push the class to 2nd semester? Maybe things will be better or class will be forced to go online. She should be able to do 2 hours in a mask. My DS is a medical resident and wears his for 12 hours 6 days a week.

[Anonymous]

Does your daughter share your concerns, or is she okay taking this class in person?

[Anonymous]

She can take a semester or a year off, go back when it’s safe, and pick up where she left off. Totally sensible approach to this situation.

[Anonymous]

Karen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just call her doctor and get a note saying she has compromised immunity and must be excused from in-person classes. Its like getting a note from the eye doctor to get out of swim in gym.

And people can ABSOLUTELY focus with a mask on for two hours. How the f*ck do you think surgeons perform surgery?

Why would a doctor agree to lie like this?

[Anonymous]

Attendance apologies around COVID are set by the university and I can’t fathom a school not allowing a student to opt into DL. Clarity around this isn’t great right now and I’m finding students think they have to come in when actually they don’t and I won’t be teaching in person 90% of the time.
Can your child just directly ask the department chair if there is a policy in the works for opting into distance learning? That would be an appropriate person to ask (the Professor doesn’t set this at a department-level) and in college “Dean of Students” isn’t a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Attendance apologies around COVID are set by the university and I can’t fathom a school not allowing a student to opt into DL. Clarity around this isn’t great right now and I’m finding students think they have to come in when actually they don’t and I won’t be teaching in person 90% of the time.
Can your child just directly ask the department chair if there is a policy in the works for opting into distance learning? That would be an appropriate person to ask (the Professor doesn’t set this at a department-level) and in college “Dean of Students” isn’t a thing.

+1 to this, OP.

OP, your DD may be afraid to ask about this -- people love to say here that "you must let your college student handle ALL this alone, because, ADULT!" but if she has never before navigated questioning a person in authority over her, she might just knuckle under and not question it. So it's OK, and it is not "helicoptering," to give her some guidance. But don't make these contacts yourself. She does need to do that; you can give her help with a plan.

She can first confirm with the professor. Is this in writing or did she just hear him or her say it, or hear it second-hand? As the PP above notes students do get these things wrong sometimes and make incorrect assumptions or believe what other students say. She needs to sort that first. If in writing, she goes to the department chair. If overheard she should confirm with professor, ask professor if there is any way to do this DL, and then go to the department chair if the prof is saying no.

There is such a thing as a "dean of students" in colleges though maybe not at PP's college. Your DD needs to know who, over the department chair, is the next level up, if she needs to go there. The title doesn't matter, what matters is that she find the chain of responsibility here. If the department chair says in person is required and she pursues it further she needs to know who is over the department chair.

She may also find strength in numbers. If she knows other students who are also wanting this class DL, she should try (quickly, though) to get them on board to approach the professor/department chair/appropriate dean as a group. One person can be brushed aside as a complainer; a group is harder to ignore.

Finally, if you have a high-risk person in the home and she is living at home, she should point that out. It is a real risk if she is going back and forth to classes while living at home.

Come back and update her, and best of luck to her.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, meant come back and update US!

[Anonymous]

Professor here. Believe it or not, colleges still need to maintain accreditation and accreditation rules do mandate that a class designated as on campus still meet a certain number of times. The college can't claim to have an on campus program and simply excuse everyone from attending. If you enroll in an on campus section you will be expected to attend unless you have requested an accommodation like using zoom. This would indeed involve documentation submitted to disability services for a condition like asthma or being immunocompromised

[Anonymous]

There is no national standard and the president is pushing for full opening of all schools. Schools around the country are making different decisions about their reopening practices. No surprise that colleges are doing the same thing.

Given the limited information OP provided, it is hard to tell how dangerous this is. I mean, are there six students in a huge lecture hall or 35 in a regular sized classroom. Regardless, if she is in a state that allows reopening with minimal or no restrictions, then her options may be to take a year off or otherwise postpone that class.