Flu infects UA community
Administrative, health officials work to preserve students' health
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 2/11/09 Section: Opinion
The flu season officially has arrived on the UA campus. Several students, professors and faculty members have called in sick and have been sent home over the past couple of weeks, and more than 40 UA students had been treated for the flu at the Pat Walker Health Center as of Friday, Feb. 6.
While the ice break sure didn't help cautious folks at the UA avoid catching the flu, UA administrators and professors are doing an excellent job handling the recent flu outbreak.
Though students missed multiple days of class because of the ice storm, campus administrators are advising professors to send students home from class (or to tell students to stay home from class altogether) if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
These recommendations came in the form of an e-mail to faculty, instructors and teaching assistants from Daniel Pugh, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, and Mary Alice Serafini, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and director of the Pat Walker Health Center.
In the e-mail, Pugh and Serafini asked faculty members "for some flexibility in the classroom to keep students with the flu away from others in the community."
We recognize that taking this advice might set professors even further back in their class plans for the spring semester, but it can generally be agreed that the health of all of those on the UA campus is the most important factor to consider.
However, advising sick students to stay home, though significant, shouldn't be the only precaution administrators and faculty take to maintain their - and their students' - health.
Washing hands, keyboards and anything that could possibly pass on germs is one of the simplest ways to avoid spreading the flu. And with the close proximity of students living on campus, contagious students always must be conscientious of those around them.
No matter what precautions are taken, however, the university community must ride out the flu season like it does every year.
Thankfully, though, UA administrators are doing all they can this semester to ensure students stay healthy (and home when necessary).
While the ice break sure didn't help cautious folks at the UA avoid catching the flu, UA administrators and professors are doing an excellent job handling the recent flu outbreak.
Though students missed multiple days of class because of the ice storm, campus administrators are advising professors to send students home from class (or to tell students to stay home from class altogether) if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
These recommendations came in the form of an e-mail to faculty, instructors and teaching assistants from Daniel Pugh, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, and Mary Alice Serafini, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and director of the Pat Walker Health Center.
In the e-mail, Pugh and Serafini asked faculty members "for some flexibility in the classroom to keep students with the flu away from others in the community."
We recognize that taking this advice might set professors even further back in their class plans for the spring semester, but it can generally be agreed that the health of all of those on the UA campus is the most important factor to consider.
However, advising sick students to stay home, though significant, shouldn't be the only precaution administrators and faculty take to maintain their - and their students' - health.
Washing hands, keyboards and anything that could possibly pass on germs is one of the simplest ways to avoid spreading the flu. And with the close proximity of students living on campus, contagious students always must be conscientious of those around them.
No matter what precautions are taken, however, the university community must ride out the flu season like it does every year.
Thankfully, though, UA administrators are doing all they can this semester to ensure students stay healthy (and home when necessary).
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