A BRIDGE TOO FAR The inaugural Summer Bridge Scholar Program is instilling a culture of fear and confusion for instructors, sources allege CONOR CARROLL On Aug. 23, 2021, Portland State welcomed in-person learning back to campus via the Summer Bridge Scholars Program (SBSP), a University Studies program for incoming freshmen that is managed by the Learning Center. Several instructors and student mentors working in the SBSP have claimed that the program is facing serious problems, and they fear repercussions from the administration if they question the program’s COVID-19 safety precautions or contract policies. The program “resembles a mix between confusing general education classes and a poorly executed summer camp for high school graduates,” according to an instructor within the program who requested to remain anonymous. Sources within the SBSP have raised serious concerns with PSU officials regarding specifics of the program to no avail—like COVID-19 safety protocols, employment contracts and curriculum construction, a possible violation of a bargaining agreement article and alleged retaliatory practices, for example. “The Summer Bridge Program is a FREE twocourse program held four weeks from August 23 to September 17,” the webpage for the program states. “Students earn up to seven credits for free for completion of this program. Courses will take place Mondays through Thursdays, with on-campus activities on Fridays.” The program is divided into four different cat-
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egories: an Academic Skills course, Quantitative Literacy, Writing & Rhetoric, and group presentations, like field trips and activities. Moreover, there are in-person and remote options in the program, for both students and instructors. The hybrid course is reported to have an estimated 380 students participating, with the majority utilizing in-person learning, according to sources within the program. There are also an estimated 25 to 30 total instructors, some of whom are graduate students at PSU. PSU’s administration has not confirmed the total number of students or instructors in the SBSP, nor who these instructors are and what their qualifications are for teaching these courses, other than possession of a Master’s degree.
COVID-19 on Campus
The administration’s policy regarding in-person, on-campus classes returning to PSU in the fall semester was decided months ago, prior to the Delta variant becoming widespread throughout Oregon. “This fall, we are safely reopening our campus for in-person teaching and learning,” the PSU COVID-19 Student Resources webpage states. “We also know that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and that the quickly growing number of cases attributed to the coronavirus Delta variant is cause for concern.” The administration requires all students and instructors that are returning to campus in fall to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 7,
2021, according to PSU’s official COVID-19 Vaccination Policy statement. “All students and employees who access PSU locations must submit either (1) an attestation confirming the student or employee has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19; or (2) submit an applicable exemption or deferral,” the policy requirements section states. “One may decline the COVID Vaccine on a medical or nonmedical exemption [and] nonmedical exemptions include the informed decision to decline vaccination due to religious belief, philosophical belief, or other personal reasons,” the vaccination policy states. The use of terms like “exemption” and “requirement” is disputed by some. “So, any non-medical exemptions are basically whatever anyone wants them to be,” one anonymous source told Portland State Vanguard. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of what an exemption actually is?” As for the requirement to get the vaccine in the first place, Dr. Mark Bajorek, Director of Health Services for PSU’s Center for Student Health and Counseling, told Vanguard that the student requirement is based on the honor system. And, despite the PSU Incident Management Team’s most recent University Communications email, and PSU Provost Susan Jeffords’s Aug. 18 PSU News article titled “Our Safe Return to the PSU Campus,” some within the SBSP and the PSU American Association of University Professors (PSU-AAUP) believe that the admin-
istration’s and program director’s COVID-19 measures are insufficient. Dr. Aaron Roussell is an Associate Professor of Sociology at PSU and the current Vice President for Grievances and Academic Freedom for the PSU-AAUP. When asked for comment by Vanguard, he stated, “I became concerned that the Director of the program seemed to be minimizing the seriousness of [COVID-19] by uneven implementation of space requirements, predicting the end of the mask mandate, and requiring most students and peer mentors to live on campus and attend class in person during the duration of the program.” (Roussell’s statements do not reflect the opinions of all members of the PSU-AAUP.) Shoshana Zeisman-Pereyo, Ed. D, Director of the PSU Learning Center and the SBSP, has not responded to Vanguard requests for comment. Students will allegedly be in mixed groups for classes and residency in dorms, despite attempts by program administrators to emphasize contract tracing methods, such as seating charts, according to an instructor with the program. PSU’s official policy requires students and faculty to be vaccinated by Sept. 7, nearly two weeks after the commencement of the SBSP.
Curriculum, Contracts & More Confusion COVID-19 policy notwithstanding, other aspects of the SBSP have instigated confusion among instructors participating in the new hybrid course. The official webpage for the
PSU Vanguard • AUGUST 24, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
