SU encourages instructors to teach most spring semester courses in person

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Syracuse University expects that a “substantial majority” of its spring semester courses will include in-person instruction, an SU official said Tuesday.

Deans will have until Oct. 15 to schedule courses and notify the university whether instructors will follow an in-person, online or hybrid format, Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost John Liu said in an SU news release Tuesday. Faculty can make adjustments to course formats until Oct. 29, Liu said. 

The university wants to avoid repeating the last-minute course format adjustments that confused students and parents at the start of the fall semester, Liu said. 

“We learned that changes in teaching modalities after registration caused significant frustration among students and their parents — particularly when changes took place at the last minute or after the official start of the semester,” he said. 

SU will encourage schools and colleges to take alternative approaches to increase the number of courses taught in person, including assigning co-instructors, hiring adjunct faculty or postponing a course or teaching assignment until a later semester, Liu said.

Some professors have said university officials pressured instructors to teach in person for the fall semester. Liu has said that the decision about how to teach classes “is theirs and theirs alone,” but has also maintained that SU intends to offer a substantial amount of its courses with an in-person component. 

Faculty teaching smaller classes in the spring should try to offer in-person-only instruction if the classroom allows for social distancing, Liu said. For larger classes, SU will urge departments to consider providing both in-person-only and online-only versions of the course if possible, he said. 

Instructors must continue to provide online access to courses for students with health concerns, international students and students who can’t make it to campus, he said. 

SU will also encourage schools and colleges to hire additional classroom assistants to help manage hybrid courses, Liu said. The Office of Financial Aid will cover 60% of the cost of hiring undergraduates who are work-study eligible as classroom assistants, he said. 

The university will continue to provide teaching accommodations for faculty and instructors with elevated health risks and those with caregiving responsibilities, Liu said.