SFU students plan walk-out to protest return to in-class learning as Omicron continues to spread

Students at Simon Fraser University (SFU) are planning to walk out of class Monday to protest having to return to in-person learning in the midst of the province's fifth wave of COVID-19.

The walk-out is scheduled for 11 a.m., according to social media posts, during which students will rally at Convocation Mall at the university's Burnaby campus.

It is the school's first scheduled day back in person since the fall semester, and the students are demanding the university offer courses online so they can avoid coming to campus while the highly-transmissible Omicron variant continues to circulate.

More than 4,000 students have also signed an online petition asking for distance education to continue at SFU for at least one more semester.

The petition also underscores that many students depend on public transit to get to campus, which means they need to be in contact with strangers who may or may not have the virus.

"Students feel helpless knowing that they need to graduate but also not wanting to get or spread the disease," reads the petition. "Not giving a student a chance to choose taking classes in person or distant is not ethical."

The signatories are asking not only for remote learning to continue for one more semester, but for hybrid learning to become a permanent option.

Hybrid learning is when some students attend class in-person, while others join the class virtually from home. This could be a safer option for students who are immune compromised during future waves of COVID-19.

The university has three campuses — in Surrey, Burnaby and Vancouver — and students are also calling for rapid testing and free N95 masks to be made available at each location.

The institution says it has carefully studied COVID's transmission at other post-secondary schools, and all students and faculty must wear masks indoors at all times.

SFU provost Catherine Dauvergne says the school is following guidance from public health authorities.

"Omicron transmission is occurring in social settings where people spend prolonged periods of time," she said. "It's just not in the lecture hall setting where we see it."

The SFU Student Society's president questions whether packed lecture halls are safe amidst the most contagious COVID-19 variant to date.

"The burden keeps being put on students to advocate for safety measures," said Gabe Liosis. "We're fighting for our safety. It shouldn't be this way."