Dominican University Adjunct Instructor Robert Lance Wilson resigned on October 7 after the lecture portion of Advanced Human Anatomy continues to meet in-person.
Wilson, who did an exclusive interview with NBC, said Dominican is “an unsafe workplace” and advocated for all 60 of his students to quarantine for 14 days.
The University was first notified of the positive case on the night of Oct. 4. The Wellness Center reached out to the student on Oct. 5 morning. The student did not return to campus after receiving the positive test result, according to Barrington Price, Vice President of Student Success and Engagement.
Barrington said the contact tracing protocol identified three individuals who were in proximity to the students. As of the afternoon of October 5, the university has since quarantined three individuals and isolated one student.
“As with our protocol, the steps were taken to make sure the safety of campus, our approach with the 32 other positive cases that we had– it is an approach that our team of epidemiologists from Rush have validated and supported up to a weekly basis” Price said.
Kavita Dhanwada, Dean of Borra College of Health Sciences, said she first received an email the morning of Oct. 4 from Wilson asking the procedures if a student is tested positive with COVID-19.
Dhanwada said she replied in the email that if students experience any COVID-19-related symptoms, they must report it on Campus Clear and Wellness Center will reach out with further instructions.
According to Dhanwada, Wilson teaches the lab portion of the class, BIOL 351 Advanced Human Anatomy. After he was notified of the positive case, the administration granted his wish to move the classes online for two weeks.
On Tuesday, Dhanwada received emails from Wilson suggesting also switching the lecture portion of the class online.
“And so, I was investigating that, I didn’t know anything—I didn’t have any information from contact tracing or anything,” Dhanwada said. “And I said, ‘yeah, that might be a good idea’, but it was a different instructor teaching that [lecture portion of the] course.”
Louis Scannicchio, clinical professor and executive director of Borra College of Health Sciences, who teaches the lecture portion of the class, decides to remain face-to-face in the Lund Auditorium.
Dhanwada said the administration gave faculty their choice to choose the modality of their class, as long as safety guidelines are followed.
Dr. Barrington Price said Wilson’s decision to quit came from Scannichio’s decision to remain teaching in-person.
“I think his [Wilson’s] issue came when Professor Scannichio did not agree to move his class online,” Price said. “And that, in and of itself, was the root of the disagreement, which then led to his [Wilson’s] desire to walk away.”
Dhanwada echoes Price’s interpretation, saying Scannichio has his own choice for the class modality.
“I think, you know, he [Wilson] was upset,” Dhanwada said. “He did—and I said you can certainly do your class online –that is your choice. However, I think he was upset with Dr. Scannicchio because he wanted to do it differently, and in turn, he was upset with the administration because we said you can do it [the lecture] safely and we give Dr. Scannichio his choice.”
The Dominican Star had also reached out to Wilson with no comment.
Jill Albin-Hill, Vice President for Technology & Operations, sent an email to faculty and staff on Oct. 9, stating BIOL 351 Advanced Human Anatomy and BIOL 370 Functional Neuroanatomy will be delivered remotely “until we can be assured that our safety protocols are being followed, after which time the classes will return to their original modalities”.
According to Dhanwada, it is difficult to social distance in lab classrooms and not everyone was wearing the reusable face shields. The face shields are supposed to be used and put away by the students.
According to Price, Dominican University has not seen a spike of the COVID-19 cases so far. Of the total number of 34 people who have contracted the virus, only 7 have active cases. The cases beyond the immediate last two weeks have been resolved. The individuals are reintegrated back to campus after recovery.
As for cases detected in the weeks following reopening of campus, Price said no patterns have been found. The root of where people contracted the virus is difficult to identify, but the cases are scattered and unrelated to any floor or department inside the university.
According to Price, the professor is notified by a student when they need to miss a class. Student Success and Engagements will set up the next steps for the student to complete the missing assignments.
