Humber College this week reaffirmed its plan for a March 7 return to in-person learning despite some student opposition asking for online classes to continue for the remainder of the semester.

“I’m writing to remind you that effective Monday, March 7, more Humber courses and programs will be moving to in-person delivery,” President Chris Whitaker wrote to students on Monday.

Students that advocated for Humber to continue its mostly online approach for the final seven weeks of the semester are disappointed Humber refused to change its plan.

“It definitely feels like we’re being ignored,” said fourth-year student Gus Lopes, who started a petition with over 6,000 signatures asking for Humber to keep courses online.

Students against face-to-face learning say they are worried about catching COVID-19 while others have found challenges with the logistics around returning mid-semester, such as finding a place to rent near campus or the price of commuting.

“They don’t get that March is not a time to be moving anywhere,” Lopes said, explaining he might have to find a place to rent for only seven weeks to attend his classes and finish out the semester.

Carolina Breeze, a second-year graphic design and advertising student, questioned why certain courses are returning to campus on March 7 while other classes will remain online for the last seven weeks.

Breeze said her program is returning to campus while the graphic design-only program is sticking to digital learning.

“Why are similar programs being treated differently? What’s the logic?” Breeze, who is also co-president of the Humber Students United advocacy group, asked.

“We still feel like we’re being ignored by a disconnected top that forgets who pays their salaries.”

Humber College defended its mid-semester return, saying in statements to Humber News that a return to in-person learning was always the plan for the Winter 2022 semester with the fall term designed as a transitory period.

“Humber is committed to in-person, work-integrated, and hands-on learning as an integral part of their learning experience that will help set them up for academic and career success,” communications manager Aaron Rathbone wrote.

A full return to campus originally scheduled for January was pushed back to March because of a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant that set back reopening plans for the province.

Rathbone dismissed concerns that Humber ignored students, saying that Humber has listened to concerns brought forward throughout the health crisis.

“Overall, we have and continue to listen to students’ feedback and work to balance that with the need to provide in-person learning experiences that are crucial to reaching learning outcomes,” Rathbone wrote.

He added that Humber has “repeatedly” heard from students and faculty that want to return to face-to-face education.

The president of Humber’s college faculty union, Milos Vasic, said he emphasized with Lopes, telling Humber News he agrees that Humber’s decision-making shows a disregard for student concerns.

Ventilation concerns

As thousands of students and faculty return to Humber’s North and Lakeshore campuses next month, Vasic and the faculty union have raised concerns over ventilation in some of the older buildings and Humber’s preventive measures.

Humber follows the North American industry standards for ventilation systems, known as ASHRAE.

Since the most recent iteration of that standard was set before the pandemic started, the union is asking for more testing ahead of the March 7 full return date.

However, staff in charge of ventilation at the college said there’s no issue.

“From a ventilation and each HVAC equipment standpoint, I have no concerns for people to come back to normal occupancy,” Humber facilities associate director Daniel Alonso told Humber News.

Vasic also said Humber could do more to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus but following the example of George Brown College and offer free N95 medical masks that can offer more protection than the average cloth covering.

Vaccine passports will no longer be required as of March 1, the Ontario government said Monday.

Communications official Andrew Leopold told Humber News that the college is considering whether Humber will still require those on campus to be fully vaccinated.

“We will be reviewing the details of today’s government announcement in the coming days and will provide updates to students and employees regarding Humber operations, as needed,” Leopold said in a message Monday.