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The U.K. government is the target of a legal battle over the allegedly unlawful decision to reopen universities and allow in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision on U.K. universities reopening has been the source of concern and debate during the pandemic, but now legal action is being taken. The Guardian reported the U.K.’s biggest academic union is pursuing a judicial review of the government’s choice to reopen universities instead of taking Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ (SAGE) advice to have most university classes online.
According to Morning Star, 122 university vice chancellors in England have been advised to stop in-person classes and teach university students online whenever possible.
The University and College Union (UCU) said it has detected 35,000 coronavirus cases at universities following the governments’ decision for U.K. universities reopening, Morning Star reported.
In a pre-legal action letter sent to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson over U.K. universities reopening, the UCU highlighted the government’s failure to rule universities must move to online classes this autumn. The UCU says U.K. universities reopening during the pandemic was unlawful and nonsensical, according to The Guardian.
At a 21 September meeting, SAGE recommended the government require colleges and universities to teach all nonessential courses online, according to The Guardian.
Some of the meeting between the government and SAGE over U.K. universities reopening was made public on 12 October. According to The Guardian, SAGE reportedly said “outbreaks are very likely in universities” and stressed that the risk of coronavirus deaths was more likely for professors and workers.
One week after SAGE advised the government to only allow online teaching at universities, The Guardian reported, Williamson attempted to restore MPs’ confidence by asserting it was safe for students to return to university; staff and students were praised for going back to university where they would remain “out of harm’s way.”
Williamson continued by allegedly claiming the U.K. universities reopening would include “robust public health advice and regular updates to the sector,” although he reportedly did not convey SAGE’s advice to the UCU, according to The Guardian.
“SAGE told the government in September that unless teaching at colleges and universities moved online outbreaks were very likely, but ministers ignored its advice,” UCU general secretary Jo Grady said on the UCU website. “We may never know the full impact of the decision to ignore SAGE’s warning, but we have seen infection rates up to seven times higher at universities than in surrounding areas, and over 27,000 cases of COVID on campus with reports of students in intensive care.”
“We are now witnessing a second wave that was preventable,” Grady continued. “… We are taking this legal action to find out why the government ignored its own scientists’ advice, and to pressure it to move all but essential in-person teaching at English universities online, so that we can lower the rate of transmission and help stem the crisis. At the same time we need stronger guidance and better support to minimise and control outbreaks in English colleges.”
Grady also claimed students were fooled by ministers about being safe at university and that immediate steps should be taken to allow students to go home.
The UCU is demanding an explanation from the government about why U.K. universities were reopened during the pandemic.
“This has been a very difficult time for students, and it was crucial for their wellbeing and education to be able to go to college and university, so their lives on not put on hold,” a Department of Education spokesperson told Chemistry World. “The safety of students and staff is a priority, and universities and colleges worked extremely hard to put in a wide range of measures to deliver learning in a way that is as safe as possible.”
Do you think the government should have opened universities for in-person learning? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments section below.
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