The University must not require in-person examinations during a COVID surge

We, the undersigned, call for a referendum on the below statement:

The Students Union considers that requiring in-person exams during a surge in coronavirus cases is irresponsible and endangers students, staff and the wider community.

With case rates as high as they are, infections in the exam hall are not only likely but inevitable; this will endanger vulnerable students, add additional pressure to the NHS during an already strained time, and prevent people from learning as effectively at the start of the second semester. This requirement also endangers members of University staff who invigilate and organise the exams, who are potentially exposed to infection.

The University suggests that self-isolating students will be forced to resit their exams in the summer in person. This will cause financial difficulties for students on low incomes who rely on income from summer work. Students who are working over the summer are therefore faced with a Hobson's choice: either they report their positive test result, self-isolate, and struggle financially as a result; or, they do not test or do not report a positive result, leading to further infections.

Even for healthy students, being infected with coronavirus can be a particularly nasty experience - but the University must not consider just the average student if it wants its "commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion" to mean anything. There are many students who act as carers for family members, who might well be vulnerable; there are many who themselves are clinically vulnerable; there are some who work in healthcare themselves. Even if those people take all the precautions they can, such as wearing masks and receiving their booster vaccination, those around them may not; more than three quarters of people between 16 and 25 have not yet received a booster. For some of these people, sitting examinations online may even be a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act.

It is a requirement for all those staff members at the University who can work from home to do so at present. The Students Union calls for the University to apply this logic to protecting its students, and the broader community, as well as its staff: examinations must be moved online with immediate effect.

This petition calls for an All Student Vote to require SUSU to lobby the University to move exams online immediately.