Amid mounting nationwide uncertainty over the return to in-person instruction this fall, some of Columbia University’s faculty are balking at the administration’s request that they “reconsider the modality of their courses” after the vast majority of instructors “elected to teach online only.” 

In an e-mail sent to staff yesterday and reviewed by Hyperallergic, Amy Hungerford, Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculty at Columbia’s School of Arts and Sciences, asked professors to help the school mount “a more robust offering of in-person or hybrid courses,” citing increased safety protocols at the university; recent ICE rulings barring international students from online-only instruction; and students’ desire to have an in-person academic experience.

Hungerford also adds that Columbia has invited 60% of its undergraduate residential students and General Studies students back to campus this fall, and that “Zoom classes in their dorm rooms and apartments will be a great disappointment to them.”

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