The Crimson White: Back to School Edition, August 2021

BACK TO SCHOOL
August 19, 2021
1B
‘NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO GO BACK’:
UA professors prepare for return to in-person classes
ISABEL HOPE
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Returning to school is a chance for a
fresh start — new year, new classes, new
professors. Yet, something feels familiar
about the return to campus this fall.
As the University returns to in-person
classes for the fall semester, professors
have received mixed messages about
offering online options to students. Some
students and teachers are nervous about
returning to face-to-face operations as
COVID-19 cases continue to surge.
In an email to University deans, UA
Provost James Dalton stressed a return to
“normal course delivery methods.”
“Our goals are always for every
student to succeed, and to maintain the
highest level of quality teaching, while
safeguarding the health and safety of all
UA faculty, staff, and students,” Dalton’s
email said. “We also want to ensure that
the faculty are prepared — and have the
latest information and resources — to
play their part in the University meeting
these goals.”
Dalton said it’s important to stick to
the planned in-person teaching method
unless otherwise instructed by him.
Peter Edgar, an MFA
student studying creative
writing and
journalism,
will teach
an introductory English course in the fall
and said he thinks the decision to eliminate
hybrid teaching was made without safety
in mind.
“What I imagine is happening is
when the University and plenty of other
institutions are making the judgment
about what to do, they’re putting science
and safety on one side of the scale and
putting the bottom line on the other side,”
he said. “I don’t think that’s the way it
should be.”
Dalton said he’s encouraging professors
to “prepare for teaching flexibility” and
upload all course materials to Blackboard
so that students who test positive for
COVID-19 can access them. Dalton
recommends using Panopto, a video
recording service, to record lectures to
maintain face-to-face instruction.
Ross Bettis, a senior studying
communications, said he believes the new
variants make hybrid teaching necessary,
and the return plan puts professors and
students in a “vulnerable position.”
“If we put students and professors in
a horrible position to get sick, because of
the delta variant or the lambda variant, we
are going to have an explosion of cases on
campus,” Bettis said.
The delta variant, a highly contagious
strain of the virus, became the dominant
strain in July. Fully vaccinated people
have experienced breakthrough cases,
but are unlikely to become
seriously ill. The lambda
variant, another strain
o f the virus, has
recently been
reported in
America with
the potential
capability to
neutralize
antibodies
from some
vaccines.
Currently, 99%
of COVID-19
deaths are from
unvaccinated
people.
Professors are not
allowed to ask about a
student’s vaccination
status or insist that
students get the vaccine.
The University will not disclose the vaccine
status of students to professors.
Edgar said “a lot of people, but not
everyone” in his department have been
vaccinated, and he is concerned with
the spiking case rates caused by the
delta variant. Edgar said the University
shouldn’t return to normal operations “if
we can’t make sure it’s safe.”
I’m a 23-old English
teacher. I’m not
out here to police
students. I’m teaching
them how to write. It
is a boundary issue.
Culturally, we feel
very suspicious of one
another, and these
rules don’t discourage
that suspicion.
PETER EDGAR
As someone who is required to teach to
complete his degree program, Edgar said
he feels particularly frustrated with the
circumstances.
“This responsibility of teaching is what
allows us to stay on campus and it almost
feels like a little bit of agency has been
taken from us,” Edgar said. “It just feels like
our hands are tied a little bit and that we
can’t do everything to protect ourselves.
There’s a layer of red tape — or maybe a
couple of layers of red tape — that we have
to go through to do that, which just doesn’t
feel super empowering.”
Bettis said he feels confident that hybrid
options would be helpful to professors and
students who don’t want to be “shoulder to
shoulder in class.”
Dalton shared the UA COVID-19
syllabus statement in an email to deans
on Aug. 10. He said the University has the
right to move online at any point in the
fall semester.
The syllabus statement urged
faculty, staff and students to maintain a
commitment to safety. The University
will not provide a tuition refund if classes
move online.
Edgar said he finds it difficult to teach
without clear protocols.
“The horse is already out of the
gate, so I understand that it’d be really
hard and controversial for them to do
a complete turnaround and require
stricter restrictions,” Edgar said. “I want
to sympathize with the adults who are
trying to make these decisions, but I don’t
necessarily sympathize with the rubric for
the decision-making. I think safety has to
come first, and we know enough now to
make a lot more informed decisions. We’re
going in the opposite direction.”
Edgar said he’s working hard to keep
himself and his students safe without
overstepping, but it’s going to be hard to
build community in the classroom.
“I’m a 23-year-old English teacher,” he
said. “I’m not out here to police students.
I’m teaching them how to write. It is a
boundary issue. Culturally, we feel very
suspicious of one another, and these rules
don’t discourage that suspicion.”
Dalton said professors should
“encourage students to get vaccinated”
and remind them of the $40 Bama Cash
incentive for students who report their
vaccinations by Aug. 28.
Bettis said he had multiple classes
over Zoom this past year and thinks that
a remote option should be offered to all
students so that they don’t feel unsafe in
a classroom.
“We’re pretty much just having to play
the waiting game at this point,” Bettis said.
“Should students and professors have
to suffer from the University’s decisionmaking?
No.”
Under current health and safety
guidance, professors should be quarantined
if they contract COVID. If they are not
well enough to continue teaching, the class
can be canceled. Otherwise, classes can be
taught over Zoom with permission from
department chairs and deans.
Bettis said he hopes the University will
provide online options, but that the idea of
going “back to school” is inherently flawed
during an increase in COVID-19 cases.
The University’s Division of Strategic
Communications did not respond to
multiple email requests for comment.
CW / Victoria Buckley
Seven tons of beauty:
Tuska is UA’s newest sculpture
MONICA NAKASHIMA
STAFF REPORTER
Students arriving on campus
will notice a new addition to The
University of Alabama: Tuska.
The 19-foot bronze statue modeled
after an African bull elephant is hard
to miss. Located near Bryant-Denny
Stadium, it is believed to be one of
the biggest elephant statues in the
world. While many enjoy the recently
added attraction, some may not know
its history and how it was brought
to campus.
Local Tuscaloosa businessman
Jack Warner was a well-known
figure due to his lavish collection
of art worldwide. The now-closed
Tuscaloosa Museum of Art housed
many of his collected works, but
Tuska, a piece by the sculptor Terry
Owen Mathews, was located in front
of the NorthRiver Yacht Club.
I think the elephant
certainly has been a
significant part of our
culture as an institution
and a very important
part of the tradition we
have here.
MYRON POPE
In the 1990s, Warner became
a collector of Mathews’ art and
sculptures, particularly those
involving elephants.
“He already collected a few of
my elephant statues for his yacht
club,” Mathews said. “He said to me
that he wanted an elephant piece
that was really outstanding, so he
commissioned me to do that for him.”
Born in England in 1931, Mathews
was raised in Uganda and educated in
Kenya and England.
He was a safari guide in the ‘50s
and ‘60s. While guiding a safari tour
in 1968, he was accidentally shot by
a bird hunter. He lost vision in one
of his eyes, and he could no longer
properly lead safaris.
This tragic accident led to Mathews’
second career, when he came into
sculpting with no formal training.
His particular focus on animals
such as lions and wildebeests was due
to his background in safaris and his
love for African wildlife.
“I’ve always loved elephants,”
Mathews said. “When I could
see, I was always keen to watch
them because they’re always doing
something interesting. They are, in a
lot of ways, like human beings.”
The process of making Tuska wasn’t
easy. Originally titled “Reach for the
Sky,” the sculpture was made in a
foundry in Gloucestershire, England,
starting in 1999.
Due to the size of the statue, the
molds of Tuska had to be divided
into 11 separate pieces that were later
put together.
“The maximum that most foundries
can pour in one piece is two tons,”
Mathews said. “So we cast the four
legs, two tusks, the trunk, the head,
the shoulder, the back and the tail."
According to Mathews, the heaviest
piece of Tuska was the rear end, which
weighs two tons on its own. In total,
the elephant statue weighs seven tons.
After the bronze molds were
finished, the pieces of the statue
were delivered via boat on Sept. 7,
2000. They were then assembled
in Tuscaloosa, making the total
completion time roughly one year.
After Warner’s passing in 2017,
Tuska was installed at the corner of Wallace Wade Avenue and University Boulevard in April 2021.
CW / David Gray
the NorthRiver Yacht Club decided
to gift his favorite work of art to The
University of Alabama.
UA President Stuart Bell said the
process of moving the statue from the
yacht club to its current location on
the corner of University Boulevard
and Wallace Wade Avenue was
made possible by a former athletic
director’s donation.
“Bill and Mary Battle made a gift
that would allow for the podium to
be built and landscaping to be done
around Tuska to offset some of the
costs of actually physically moving it
to the University,” Bell said.
Since the completion of the statue’s
plaza before A-Day weekend, Bell
said the opportunities for students
and visitors to take pictures has had a
great turnout.
“It’s really popular on campus,” Bell
said. “It’s getting to be one of those
few spots that people want to stop and
take pictures in front of, like Denny
Chimes and the President’s Mansion.”
UA Vice President of Student Life
Myron Pope said the placement of
the statue by Bryant-Denny Stadium
seemed appropriate, and its popularity
is paying off.
“It just seemed like the right place
to place it,” Pope said. “I’m constantly
seeing people taking pictures there.
It’s a great addition to campus
for sure.”
While the completion of the move
is recent, Bell anticipates the hype
for photo opportunities will continue
moving forward.
“It’ll be one of those places where
folks will be like, ‘Hey, let’s meet over
at Tuska and take photos,’ and we’re
seeing that already,” Bell said.
Pope also believes Tuska will
be a lasting icon to the University,
especially since elephants are
a prominent symbol for the
Crimson Tide.
“I think the elephant certainly has
been a significant part of our culture
as an institution and a very important
part of the tradition we have here,”
Pope said.