A BRIDGE TOO FAR: THE TROUBLE WITH THE SBSP

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 categories: 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 administration’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

A PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY SIGN IN THE SOUTH PARK BLOCKS. NICK GATLIN/PSU VANGUARD

SBSP links to a document that describes a “day in the life” of a Summer Bridge Program scholar, presumably to prepare incoming students for the course. However, SBSP insiders claim that the curriculum’s construction and nature of training and preparation for instructors has been puzzling at best.

“[The] concerns were wide ranging, including a curriculum over which [instructors] had no control (an issue of academic freedom), unclear requirements for instructors as well as the peer mentors (upper division PSU students), no contracts...despite requirements to complete training in advance, and, perhaps most concerning, an in-person requirement for most of the students, peer mentors, and instructors,” Roussell stated.

It is currently unclear the number of PSUAAUP members that are employed under contract in the SBSP, nor is it known how many instructors possess a contract with PSU for their work in the SBSP.

In May of 2021, the PSU administration and PSU-AAUP entered into a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that lasts until Nov. 2024. Specifically, Article 24 of the agreement addresses “Working Conditions.”

Section 1 of Article 24, states in part that “The University will forward to the Association [AAUP] reports regarding the maintenance of standards prescribed for air and water quality, safe working conditions, seismic safety and vector control.”

The administration’s lack of transparency regarding COVID-19 protective measures appears to contradict this article of the agreement, though not all instructors in the SBSP are members of the AAUP.

It is unclear if non-union and non-contract SBSP participants, or “un-uns,” have similar guaranteed protections like those in the CBA.

According to reports, the curriculum and employment details of the SBSP have been actively denied to potential employees of the Bridge program, and a general sense of confusion undergirds much of the program’s existence thus far.

“I really just don’t know what is going on,” said a source who requested to remain anonymous. “The training schedule changed, I just ‘met’ the instructor, who was just hired and has never worked at PSU before this, and I still don’t know if any of the students or faculty will be vaccinated by the time class starts.”

The day-to-day aspects and administrative minutiae of the SBSP engender confusion as well, and some concerns address potential pitfalls students and instructors alike may face.

“I’m really frustrated,” an instructor in the SBSP stated. “I think this transformed into something I did not agree to.”

Curriculum structure, course credits and length of program have all changed since instructors first signed on, according to sources. Classes are now three or four credits within the four weeks, with students required to be in five-hour long classes at least twice a week, along with the daily skills course, to earn up to seven total credits.

Neither SBSP Director Zeisman-Pereyo nor the PSU administration have responded to a request for comment regarding these assertions.

Sources say that employment contracts were unavailable to potential instructors. Additionally, they say that should an instructor question the directives of the SBSP, they could be summarily dismissed or removed from eligibility altogether.

Retaliation by Any Other Name

“Understandably concerned for their health and wellbeing, several members who were to be employed as program instructors—necessary summer income for them—asked the Director about the possibility of teaching remotely and were unceremoniously dropped from the program days before training was to start,” Roussell stated.

It is unclear if these allegations would fall under state or federal parameters for retaliation in the workplace, though Roussell indicates there may be a loophole through which the administration may remove curious instructors without consequence.

“The technicality is that they were promised contracts and included in the early organizing of the program (they had access to their class on Banweb, etc.) and were told they would no longer be offered contracts after requesting remote work for their own safety—thus there is no technical breach of contract,” Roussell stated.

A newsletter post from PSU-AAUP titled “Summer Bridge Program: Return to Work?” stated regarding instructor dismissals, “Some members, concerned for their health and the health of their students, asked to train and teach the program remotely or online, and were subsequently told their services would not be needed…This request to teach remotely or online seems reasonable, especially since we are in a surge of COVID-19 Delta variant cases.”

Sources have indicated that several instructors and student mentors have already been removed from eligibility or have resigned their potential posts, primarily over the issue of inperson teaching and COVID-19 writ large. PSU has not responded to requests for comment regarding these assertions.

All sources that spoke to Vanguard expressed a fear of reprisal from the PSU administration.

Crossing the Bridge

Scholastic bridge programs have been gaining popularity in Oregon and elsewhere in the U.S., like at Michigan State University and the University of Arkansas. PSU’s inaugural SBSP may turn out to be a litmus test of sorts for such styles of future coursework, though the Delta variant’s rapid spread could hinder such aspirations.

“Go remote. Save lives,” Roussell stated of his desires for the program. “Reinstate the instructors who were dropped or offer compensation for the opportunity cost. Reassure us that PSU takes the health of all its workers seriously even when the unions are not in a position to make it so.”