From: "Patterson, David A" Date: Friday, August 13, 2021 at 1:59 PM To: "Walker, Sean C" , "Pourmotabbed, Tayebeh" , "Donaldson, Martin E" , "Starling, Anderson Milton" , "Crawford, Elizabeth" , "Garland, Tammy" , "Cathey, R Michael" , "Gross, Louis J" , "Richey, Phyllis" Cc: "Martin, Linda C (Linda C. Martin)" , "Patterson, Stacey Swiger" , "Etzkorn, Karen Brinkley" , "Ross, Alison" Subject: Re: UFC Meeting Topics Sean, Here are two questions for President Boyd. Two questions for President Boyd The UTK Chancellor and Provost recently sent emails to the campus under the title “Updated COVID Guidelines.” Neither of them mentions whether we will be following CDC Guidelines. CDC Guidelines for Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) where not everyone is fully vaccinated include the recommendation of physical distancing. See https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/colleges-universities/considerations.html See Section 3. Will the UT System and all our campuses follow and adhere to CDC guidance on COVID? If not, why not? Second, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance on the use of American Rescue Plan (ARP) education funds to improve indoor air quality for in-person instruction. See https://www.ed.gov/coronavirus/improving-ventilation Has the UT System and the campuses applied for or made use of any of these funds to improve the safety/air quality of our classrooms and instructional spaces? If not, why not? Thanks, David David A. Patterson, Ph.D. Cooper-Herron Endowed Professor in Mental Health Research and Practice Director KnoxHMIS UMASS Center for Mindfulness Qualified MBSR Teacher College of Social Work Adjunct Professor Graduate School of Medicine The University of Tennessee 865.974.7511 From: "Gross, Louis J" Date: Friday, August 13, 2021 at 3:04 PM To: "Patterson, David A" , "Walker, Sean C" , "Pourmotabbed, Tayebeh" , "Donaldson, Martin E" , "Starling, Anderson Milton" , "Crawford, Elizabeth" , "Garland, Tammy" , "Cathey, R Michael" , "Richey, Phyllis" Cc: "Martin, Linda C (Linda C. Martin)" , "Patterson, Stacey Swiger" , "Etzkorn, Karen Brinkley" , "Ross, Alison" , "Gross, Louis J" Subject: Re: UFC Meeting Topics Folks, As a supplement to the questions David asked: 1. How is it that the UT System is not following the same rules regarding CDC guidance as the TBR System? Pellissippi State is requiring masks everywhere indoors for everyone, as one example, with similar mask expectations indoors in other TBR institutions. 2. You have regularly noted that each campus has its own leadership and that each campus administration has independence. Yet we are told that campuses do not have independence regarding the basic issue of safety for our campus population and that it is a System decision to not require masks indoors but only in classrooms. Is indeed this a constraint set by the System or not? Stay well, Lou -- Louis J. Gross (he, him, his) Chancellor’s Professor and Alvin and Sally Beaman Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics Director Emeritus, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS.org) Director, The Institute for Environmental Modeling University of Tennessee - Knoxville President, 2006-2007, 2021-2022, UTK Faculty Senate Past-President, 2003-2005, Society for Mathematical Biology http://lgross.utk.edu/