UK academic twitter. Like me, you probably know colleagues who have worked night & day to put in place a plan to safely reopen your own & other universities. But there comes a point when efforts are self-defeating and it is not un-collegial to say so.1/5 @MikeOtsuka @devisridhar https://twitter.com/ChrisGiles_/status/1308788406122676226

A vast majority of university teaching staff are not key workers, else we would not have gone online so effectively in March, & some of us would have been able to send kids to school. It's just duplicitous to claim otherwise now.

In other times we are told lecture captcha is essential so the university can continue the business of teaching, even if perhaps you are on strike. Now face to face, in person teaching is essential & you are utterly indispensable to the student experience.

No amount of masking and hygiene theatre is fool-proof in dealing with aerosol transmission in classrooms, or risk of transmission in large contrived households that many students live in.

Humility now in the face of unpredictable, unprecedented and protracted dissonance, would go a long way in helping staff and student well-being. Look at the growing evidence and do the right thing, instead of the 'nice to have' campus experience. 5/5

I get the delicate balance of student well-being and financial implications. I have zoom hand-held some of my students way past term-time because they needed the support. 6/6

But there are broader societal issues at play here. There are carers, those who are shielding, those who are the only point of contact for aged parents, those who are just exhausted and terrified of whatever level of risk is unacceptable to them. 7/7

Look at the growing evidence, data and observations, and avert what we can reliably predict. UK Universities must go online until January now. 8/8