This sense of faculty motion was passed with a 75% vote at the faculty meeting on December 13th, 2021.

“The faculty urge the administration to reinstitute Spring 2021 COVID testing protocols for the remainder of the 2021-22 academic year, including entry testing for all students after breaks, and ongoing surveillance testing for all students and employees working on-campus.”

Rationale:
The events at the end of the Fall 2021 semester make it very clear that vaccines and a masking policy are not enough to mitigate the presence and threat of COVID-19 on Middlebury’s campus. Bringing thousands of students back to campus without mandatory entry and surveillance testing in 2022 risks another outbreak at worse, and widespread uncertainty and anxiety at best. We have a proven record of being able to support effective testing for students and faculty from the 2020-21 year; returning to these earlier protocols as the pandemic continues to disrupt our health and safety is the best way to protect our community and avoid major disruptions to our educational mission. It is vital that this testing protocol includes employees working on-campus, as the local testing resources are overburdened with limited availability that is particularly inconvenient to many staff members’ work schedules.
The events of the last week have proven that it is better to know the status of the virus on campus than to limit our knowledge. Following the lead of every single one of our peer colleges by using entry and surveillance testing of the entire community is the prudent and responsible way to keep us all safe and focused on educating students.
Presented by Jason Mittell on behalf of members of the AAUP Executive Committee and Working Conditions Committee:
James Berg
Laurie Essig
Peter Matthews
Jamie McCallum
David Miranda Hardy
Michael Olinickk