University graduate employee unions and student governments across Oregon have formed a new coalition with the following specific goals: increased protections for students attending in-person classes, increased transparency in COVID data reporting on campus, increased remote instruction availability, and increased student and employee involvement in COVID-related decision-making.
The coalition includes the Oregon Student Association, student governments with Western Oregon University, University of Oregon, and Portland State University, and graduate employee unions with Oregon State University, Oregon Health and Science University, and UO and PSU. The coalition will gather on a monthly basis to assess student wellbeing.
Evelyn Kocher is the interim executive director of the Oregon Student Association. She explains that “the coalition was formed out of a shared concern about student safety during the wave of Omicron cases that cropped up near the end of 2021 going into the start of 2022. The goal of the coalition is essentially to provide a shared space to talk about administrations’ shortcomings when it comes to safeguarding student safety.”
In a recent statement on the coalition’s focuses, representatives wrote, “We believe that these items are the bare minimum that we expect from university administrations to help keep students safe and not have to sacrifice their physical well-being to obtain an education.”
By Grace Miller
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