Dear trustees of Oregon State University,
I am addressing you today because of my deep concerns around OSU reopening in the fall for in person instruction. As the City Councilor for Ward Five, which has the highest proportion of Oregon State students in the city, I was gathering signatures for my re-election campaign. I talked with many of my constituents. The common concern—OSU students returning in the fall. What is the plan to keep us safe? How will we monitor and control for the virus and its spread? What is the community testing schedule? Is OSU coming back? Why?
We live in the heart of the student community, north of campus. We observe OSU student behavior every day. Many are very respectful, serious, focused, working hard, wearing a mask when they cannot maintain social distancing—ideal members of the community during a pandemic. However, others are not. We have regularly seen groups of students gathered in backyards, drinking, playing beer pong, lighting off fireworks, mingling and talking loudly, without masks, without social distancing. We have seen large groups of students hanging out in front of townhouses, as if the entire block of five bedroom apartments was one quarantine pod. We have raised these concerns with Steve Clark and Benton County Health, and the response has been “Students live in congregate housing. That’s what you are seeing.” It is not. We know who are neighbors are—we know there is considerable mixing of households happening throughout the ward. We also know that, because of the design of the infill “student” housing, many students are living five—or more—to a unit. We cannot monitor behavior in private homes and backyards and we should not. It is nearly impossible to control the spread of a virus in these conditions.
Nothing has really changed about the pandemic since we closed schools in March. The county now has a plan for where to store the dead, if we have a spike in severe cases. We have some regulations in place that allow businesses to hobble along for the time being. But, we do not have a cure or a vaccine. We do not fully understand how the virus is spread, how long antibodies last—if they do—and how to test the entire community regularly. We do know that the virus load will go up in the winter, as people move inside with the coming of the rains. We also know that the virus load will rise much more dramatically if we add ten thousand new people, from around the state and the country, to the community mix.
Schools across the country are weighing their options and making the very hard choice to go online this fall. I understand the difficulty of that choice. As a high school English teacher, I would give up many things—eating out on Friday nights for ever—to be able to work with my students face to face this fall. I would much rather be speaking to you directly right now. I have experienced the difficulties of working with struggling students online. I have seen many a meeting fall apart because of a failure of technology. I deeply believe the most meaningful teaching and learning occurs face to face, when you can build relationships through daily proximity. However, I am not willing to put the lives of our elders, the long term economic success of our small businesses, and the real education of our children—all of our children—at risk for the short term financial and educational gains of a few.
Please make the right choice for the health of us all and cancel in person instruction for the fall term and longer, if needed.
Sincerely,
Charlyn Ellis
Corvallis City Councilor, Ward Five
Corvallis High School English teacher
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