Response to Religious Exemption Approval and Covid Testing Expectation for Online Instructors

Communication with Peralta Community College District

Update: I am grateful that my appeal was heard on January 4 and my exemption granted. However, I felt called to make another statement clarifying that I do not consider weekly Covid testing a reasonable accommodation for online instructors or students. This led me to reflect on the importance of carefully considering the implications of rules during this time, from a systems perspective:

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Dear HR staff,

It was a pleasure speaking with you this week. Thank you for further inquiring into my sincerely held religious beliefs and for granting my exemption. I am glad I was able to clarify my beliefs for you. It would be an honor to continue to serve our students during this challenging time.

I was surprised, however, when I received your follow-up message stating that I am expected to test weekly, as an online instructor. I wonder if there was a misunderstanding. If I haven’t made explicit what accommodation I am claiming and what I consider a reasonable accommodation, according to the Civil Rights Act, I apologize.

I know that our students’ wellbeing is of utmost priority to you, and I recognize that you are doing everything possible to keep functioning as an academic institution under ever-changing public health rules.

Clarifying Reasonable Accommodations

Let me clarify what I have learned about reasonable accommodations as specified in the Civil Rights Act, Title VII, and the associated EEOC Guidance, Section 12-IV. I am stating this not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of any students who may encounter a similar challenge. In fact, I was recently contacted by a distraught online student who had a similar concern and who was not sure she could even continue at Peralta because of the communication she received from the District about an alleged testing requirement for online students. This is why I am detailing my concern to you here:

According to the Civil Rights Act, Title VII and the associated EEOC guidance, employers are required by law to provide a reasonable accommodation to me or to students, so that we do not have to compromise or violate our religious beliefs. An accommodation is an adjustment to our working/learning conditions, location, hours, etc. so that we can continue to work without discrimination and without violating our beliefs. A reasonable accommodation is fair, suitable, appropriate, sensible and not discriminatory.

The only way the District does not have to offer me or a student a reasonable accommodation is if (a) it poses a significant hardship in terms of money or resources or inability of the District to conduct its business; or (b) if we pose a threat to the health and safety of others. The District has to specifically demonstrate either a significant hardship, or that we are a threat. The District has to provide verifiable evidence if this is the case. Generalized statements are not sufficient.

I have not caused anyone harm or posed a threat by teaching from home. My requested accommodation is that I continue to work from home, without getting tested and without documenting my symptoms in an app. I do not need to perform these measures when I interact with students via the screen. Covid-19 is not transmissible via a computer screen.

I hope this clarifies my stated reasonable accommodation for you. I am assuming that this was ultimately your intention, but the wording of your reply didn’t reflect this.

Reflecting on the Unintended Impacts of Policies on our Students

Please forgive me if I am so specific here. It is not my intention to offend anybody, nor to be disrespectful of the challenging task you are faced with in juggling all these rules. I am going into this much detail not only on my own behalf, but also because my heart is breaking for our students right now.

In fact, it was not long ago that I was contacted by a student, a single mom from Oakland, who was distraught when she was told she would need to test weekly while taking online classes (if she got a religious exemption). This is a student who doesn’t own a car, and this rule would have majorly inconvenienced her, trying to find a testing site. This student felt traumatized by the communication she received from the District. She just wanted to finish college successfully.

I understand that since then, the District has decided not to enforce vaccination status uploads from online students, and I assume that also means unvaccinated online students don’t have to show weekly test results. Thank you for any role you may have played in making this possible. However, I consider the instructions on the Safe Peralta website still confusing when it comes to online learning. I am concerned how this may be unduly distressing current and prospective students. If there is any way to clarify this for our students further, I would greatly appreciate it, to ensure that online students still feel welcome to pursue their studies at Peralta regardless of their vaccination status.

I received my PhD as a single mom, and I admire all our students who are single parents, who are reaching for the stars and modeling to themselves and their own children that no life circumstance will ever keep them from pursuing their dreams. It breaks my heart when our students feel traumatized and disoriented by rules that make it much harder for them to achieve educational success.

As a professor of systems thinking, I pay close attention to rules. As I mentioned in my original accommodation statement, I am not opposed to rules, boundaries, and structures. Life continuously self-organizes based on a series of intricate rules. But I am also aware that unexamined and arbitrary rules can cause significant harm, often unintentionally, inadvertently, and with some delay.

It just breaks my heart how much suffering I have witnessed in the past two years that has been caused by insufficiently deliberated rules in the context of our public health challenge. Countless elders have died alone or have not received adequate treatment, due to unexamined rules. Mothers have given birth alone, due to unexamined rules, or have been separated from their newborn children. Unexamined rules have been contributing to stifling our children’s social-emotional development. Unexamined rules have contributed to creating divisions, rifts, and dehumanizing tendencies between us, and continue to do so every day.

Just recently, the Oakland City Council passed a Proof of Vaccination ordinance, preventing anyone without a Covid injection from accessing many indoor services. I am concerned how this rule will once again disproportionally affect our African American student population who is still healing from centuries of systemic segregation and redlining. A large percentage of African Americans in Alameda County have chosen not to participate in the Covid injection thus far. As I have stated previously, there are many reasons why Peralta students may choose not to get injected, and I consider this an important equity consideration that should inform campus policies.

I also empathize with the many students and staff I have heard from who wonder why there is a distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated students when it comes to testing requirements on campus, since the injections haven’t shown to prevent transmission nor infection, as has been confirmed by NAID director Dr. Fauci, WHO chief scientist Dr. Swaminathan, Moderna’s Chief Medical Officer, professors of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and other leading institution, as well as by numerous evidence-based research studies, and as is stated in the vaccine trial documentation.

If the goal is to reduce transmission and infection rates on campus, why not test everybody? Or, even better (since both PCR tests and rapid at-home antigen tests have shown such high inaccuracy rates), why not offer resources on prophylaxis and early treatment (see my original accommodation request) to support students, faculty, and staff in staying healthy?

I recognize that you may feel your hands are tied because many of the campus rules are being passed down from the State. But I consider this a very critical time where every action matters and has potential far-reaching implications. As an instructor, I see it as my priority to uphold the humanity in our shared learning environment during this challenging time. I am pleading from the bottom of my heart to consider how even the most minute rules can impact our already distressed students.

As an online instructor, it is my commitment to continue to provide a learning sanctuary for our students regardless of their vaccination status. I therefore ask you from the bottom of my heart to make online learning logistics as friendly as possible for our students, so that they don’t feel discouraged from enrolling, regardless of their vaccination status and testing practices. And I invite you to continue considering the medical rationale and impact on our students when it comes to on-campus policies, as well. It would break my heart if Peralta unintentionally contributed to any segregating and dehumanizing tendencies during this tender time.

I honor the divine spark in you, and I thank you for honoring the divine spark in me. I wish nothing on you that diminishes you, and I thank you for wishing nothing on me that would diminish me in any way. As a sovereign human being created by Life’s divine blueprint, it is my divine calling to choose how I take care of my health while being compassionate toward others around me and in solidarity with all relations.

I have loved how honoring the divine spark in each other has always been the Peralta way, which is why my heart has remained here even during such challenging times.

I have loved how Peralta has been a place that builds bridges, with compassion, consideration, and care. In the same spirit of compassion, consideration, and care, I ask you to consider how paying attention to how and when to implement rules (even the seemingly most minute ones) can have a huge impact on the wellbeing of our students.

Thank you for having our students’ future at heart.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can provide any further information. I am very open to continue this dialog.

Many blessings,

Barbara Widhalm