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Campus Update: Sept. 8

Message to Faculty from VP of Academic Affairs Michael Le Roy

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

I apologize for the length of this memo, but we want to be sure we are giving you clear information about how we intend to handle attendance and related instructional issues given the likelihood of a flu outbreak on the Whitworth campus. As you know, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and other global health organizations are expecting widespread illness resulting from the spread of the H1N1 virus (also known as Swine Flu) during the coming flu season. It is not yet clear how the spread of the virus will be influenced by a vaccine or other preventative efforts to control the virus. However, at this time it is sensible to prepare for the effect of a flu outbreak on our institution. In particular, it is important that we do everything we can to limit the effect of the flu on the health and well-being of our community.

H1N1 and the Classroom

Students who have the flu should not come to class. If a student informs you that he/she has the flu please ask the student to return to their residence and notify the health center. If a student is displaying flu-like symptoms or thinks they may have the flu, it is appropriate to ask the student about these observable symptoms and possibly ask the student to return to their residence and contact the health center. The flu-like symptoms may include: fever plus cough and sore throat, and possible other symptoms like runny nose, body aches, headaches, chills fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea. Of course, we are not asking you to make a diagnosis for the student, but want you to know about the symptoms that are most prevalent for this disease.

In most cases, the CDC is not advising the use of facemasks, with the exception of persons who are particularly at risk of contracting the flu. Students should be allowed to wear facemasks in class in these cases at their discretion. Facemasks should only be used by students who are not ill who are trying to avoid becoming ill. Under no circumstances should anyone who is ill be allowed to justify class attendance through the use of a facemask. Facemasks have not been proven effective for preventing people who are sick from spreading the virus.

Your Students' Attendance and H1N1

It is important to recognize and mitigate ways that class attendance policies might encourage students who are ill to come to class. Students who have contracted the flu should not return to class until 24 hours after their fever lifts (without the use of fever reducing medications such as Tylenol). As such, we recommend you observe the following protocol. First, we recommend you discuss your attendance policy in detail with your students so that they understand the importance of ‘saving’ absences for possible illnesses. Secondly, we recommend you plan for higher than usual levels of illness-related absenteeism this semester with policies or practices that do not encourage sick students to come to class.

One way to approach this is to allow sick students to take additional absences after the maximum allowable amount with assigned make-up work. Have make-up assignments ready that you can give to students to make up for missed class sessions. Such assignments should allow a student to have a roughly equivalent learning experience, and should not be punitive or excessive in nature.

We are also asking you not require a doctor’s note to waive absences for flu. Persons ill with the flu, but not in a particular risk group or suffering unusually severe symptoms, are being encouraged to stay home rather than visit the doctor's office in order to avoid spreading the virus and to keep from overloading the medical infrastructure. Please do not require the doctor's note to provide specific evidence of the H1N1 virus. This requires an additional expensive test that may deter students from seeking care and may not be covered by the student's health insurance. "Flu-like symptoms" should be a sufficient diagnosis to allow students additional absences or whatever other accommodation you determine appropriate. If you feel that a student is abusing this more relaxed attendance policy please contact Dr. Barb Sanders in Academic Affairs for further advice.

Faculty Illness Absenteeism

If you, as a faculty member, become ill with the flu, you should not come to class until 24 hours after your fever lifts. Please take note of the fact that, if you become ill with the H1N1 flu, it is possible you will miss more than one week of class. Given that we are at the beginning of the semester, we would recommended you consider identifying alternative activities or guest lecturers whom you might invite in case you come down with the flu. It may also help you to identify the flexible dates in the syllabus that could be eliminated if you happen to fall ill. It will be best, where possible, to avoid cancelling classes.

If you do contract the flu, please notify your department's administrators (both the Chair and the Program Assistant) and engage their help around notifying students about changes in the course schedule, help with substitutes, and the cancelation of classes as a last resort. Department chairs should notify Academic Affairs (more than a day) of likely extended absence situations by faculty triggered by the flu.

Campus-Wide Suspension of Classes

At this time, it is impossible to predict how Whitworth will experience the H1N1 virus, but it is possible that a severe outbreak could lead Whitworth to suspend all classes until the spread of the disease subsides. Whitworth may have the discretion to make this decision on its own, or may be required to suspend classes by the local health department. If time allows, Whitworth’s Executive Safety Committee and the President’s Cabinet will consult with the Faculty Executive if we are faced with this decision. Under these circumstances the use of online instructional methods to deliver content may become critical. I would strongly encourage departments to identify courses that could continue using online methods of instruction during a period of suspension if faculty were given three working days to prepare. The use of these methods in many of our courses may enable us to devote more time to makeup classes that cannot use these approaches if a temporary suspension of classes becomes necessary. As a preparatory measure we are asking department chairs to provide a list of fall courses that may be continued using online methods during a hypothetical two week suspension of classes, and a list of those courses that could not be delivered in an online manner. Again, we don’t know whether or not these preparations will be necessary, but it is important to prepare for such an eventuality.

We hope you have a great semester and that you manage to duck this virus. This is not the kind of message I relish sending out at the beginning of the term. I know Whitworth usually continues to work well, even under circumstances of adversity like this one, because of the strong community relationships that exist here. Thanks to all of you in advance for the ways you will help one another through this situation. I have included some information resources about H1N1 and how we intend to handle these issues in the wider campus community in the space below the signature line.

Sincerely yours,

Michael K. Le Roy, Ph.D.
Vice President, Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty
Whitworth University
Spokane, WA 99251
Ph. (509) 777-3702
Fax (509) 777-4763

For more information on the H1N1 virus, follow this link: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm

For information on CDC advice for Higher Education, follow this link: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/institutions/guidance/?s_cid=tw_flu37

For information on Whitworth’s preparations for H1N1, follow this link: www.whitworth.edu/Administration/Health&CounselingCenter/FluPreparation.htm