Questions for President Boyd from UTK Senate - August UFC Meeting
 
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?

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. 

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? 

ERP - how we might cohesively encourage more input in the process so it is not last minute.

How we might encourage a revision of Board policy that so constrains our students from having the capability to lead and manage student activities covered by their activity fees. We are an outlier as compared to every other System I am aware of.