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1) As you likely now know, the many faculty are unhappy about the content of travel policy, which displays very little understanding of our research practices and needs. In addition to reflecting subtle and blatantly racist and orientalist understandings of how field research, in particular is actually conducted, the policy as it stands is vague in its several "or anything else we decide is a problem" provisions. With such open ended sanctions, the Admin could strip us of tenure and fire us for . . . we don't know what.
2) There is a big irony here. Given that the University will not mandate mask wearing in our classrooms, I fear that in the Fall, our classrooms will rank higher in terms of COVID risk than most of our research sites. Currently, the US ranks Canada as Level 3 risk.
SFU is unwilling to protect me from COVID during the teaching portion of my job (in a Level 3 risk country), but wants to restrict my ability to do research in a "foreign country" with a 3 or 4 risk rating?
Cindy Patton Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
The lands on which we live and work are the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and
Kwikwetlem (kʷikʷəƛ̓əm) Nations. |