Students protest over instruction options, COVID safety

Western Washington University students set out for Red Square or joined via Zoom Monday to demand that the university provide multi-modal learning, clearer COVID-19 guidelines and more support for students and faculty to ensure a safe learning environment.

Multi-modal learning would require in-person classes to have an online component, giving students the choice to return to campus or stay online. Many students said they fear contracting COVID-19 from packed lecture halls, while others crave the social interactions of in-person learning. Multi-modal learning would give students the individual choice between in-person or online learning. More than 600 students have signed an online petition in support of it.

But Western officials said they do not have the infrastructure to provide that option to students.

“It requires the faculty member to interact with both student groups concurrently, which is very difficult without additional trained classroom help,” Western spokesperson John Thompson said in an email.

Last October, the university and the United Faculty agreed that instructors would not be asked to teach a section for both remote and in-person students, and if they were, they'd receive extra pay due to the added workload.