Protocols for Fall 2021 Instruction from the CRRTF and

the Academic Personnel Office

The 2021-2022 academic year brings with it a return to in-person teaching and learning that our
campus community has been missing since March 2020. As a renowned institution that attracts
the best and brightest minds, we are in a position to reintroduce our students to face-to-face
instruction and collaboration with a sense of optimism and excitement, while balancing the
need for continued precautions and compassion. We recognize that this year will require us to
remain flexible and innovative.

1. Current Authorizations for In-Person and Remote Instruction

With the University of California approval of a vaccine mandate for students, staff, faculty and
academic appointees, and the widespread availability of vaccines, UCLA will move forward with
its plans for in-person instruction for the fall quarter. All instructors, including senate faculty,
adjunct faculty, lecturers, and teaching assistants (TAs), are expected to deliver their classes in-
person, on campus as the primary method of delivery. (Note, courses already scheduled for
remote instruction should still be offered in this modality.)

We recognize that when required to pivot on short notice to fully remote instruction in 2020,
UCLA faculty rose admirably to a daunting set of challenges. They took time away from research
and other valuable activities to cultivate new pedagogical techniques, developing remote
teaching methods that not only met the needs of a temporary emergency, but also pointed in
directions of improved effectiveness and inclusiveness. Over the longer term, we recognize a
need to explore, with the leadership of the Senate, how to bring these lessons into our longer
term educational plans. For the moment, we are returning to our core experience of the in-
person classroom and these guidelines help us do that safely under current conditions.

As of Sept 20, 2021, UCLA is not subject to classroom density limitations imposed by the Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) and/or the State of California Department
of Public Health (CDPH); as long as this remains the current policy, the Undergraduate and
Graduate Councils authorized remote instruction under the following conditions:

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• Classes required to complete a major/degree that are offered in a single section and are
lockstep, such that not offering them remotely could impact a student’s progress towards
degree, if they were only offered in person.

• Classes where the instructor has a medical accommodation that does not allow the instructor
to teach the course in person.

Note, once a course has been scheduled for remote instruction it is not allowed to pivot to in-
person even if LACDPH restrictions ease.

If public health guidance (CDC, CDPH, LACDPH) changes, adjustments could be made to classroom
density or enrollment limits for in-person instruction. However, the current default mode of
instruction is in person.

2. Need for Flexibility and Ability to Pivot to Remote

We will need to be responsive and nimble to changes in the public health landscape that will
occur during the academic year. Students and faculty may not receive clearance from the
symptom survey for a variety of public health reasons, including lack of compliance with the
vaccine policy or surveillance testing, symptoms that might (or might not) be connected to
COVID; being COVID+ and being required to quarantine or isolating due to potential recent
COVID+ exposure. Because of rules about health privacy, instructors will not necessarily have
direct knowledge about whether students in their class have tested positive for COVID.
Instructors will have access to a dashboard (link available after 9/20/21) where they may
determine whether students are cleared to be onsite or not. In some cases, students may
provide instructors with a notification from the Exposure Management Team that indicate an
extended absence and date when they are cleared to return to campus. If possible, instructors
should use seating charts to aid in contact tracing. Seating charts should be uploaded to
(https://ucla.app.box.com/f/e5aaa13c3a1d45f180b0a11d8396657c).

Existence of some COVID+ cases in our community will not spur an immediate shift to remote
education as occurred last fall, either across our educational program, or in the particular class
or classes in which they occur. However, there will be times when it may be appropriate or
necessary to move an in-person class to remote instruction for an individual class session or an
isolation/quarantine-related period. Given the University’s commitment to in-person
instruction, except as stated in Section 3, instructors cannot unilaterally move their classes to
remote without prior approval as described below or at the direction of UCLA’s Exposure
Management Team.

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 3. Instructor Pre-Authorization for Limited Remote Instruction

An instructor may move a single, individual in-person class, or up to two classes in a row, to Zoom
without prior authorization under the following circumstances only:

• The instructor has an illness or physical symptoms and is thereby not cleared for onsite
work from the symptom monitor survey, but feels well enough to teach remotely.
• The instructor has had direct, recent, extensive close contact with someone who is
COVID+ and believes that they should temporarily quarantine (even though current
University protocols and public health orders do not require vaccinated individuals to do
so if they remain asymptomatic).
• The instructor is traveling for work or other necessity and elects to hold a single class on
Zoom rather than rescheduling the session. The instructor should not schedule more than
two Zoom classes for the term for this reason.
• A particular class meeting will include a remote guest speaker.

The University needs to understand the frequency with which such situations arise across the
institution. For this reason, instructors must inform their department chair or chair’s designee
within 48 hours of any in-person class moved to Zoom for any of the above reasons.

To best support our entire community, we encourage instructors to think carefully about how to
adjust for students who are unable to attend class in-person because they have not been cleared
to be on campus by the symptom-monitoring survey and/or are actively isolating or quarantining
per campus and LACDPH guidance. Please refer to the guidance for instructors from the Academic
Senate for more information.

In-person classes can schedule office hours either in-person or remotely. Remote classes should
schedule office hours remotely.

4. Other Public Health-Related Situations Where Advance Approval is Required

We recognize that there may be other public-health related situations where an instructor may
believe that it is necessary to change to remote modality. In such circumstance, the instructor
shall make a request for approval for any temporary modality change to the department chair
[or designee]. The request shall provide a detailed description of the circumstances warranting a
modality change and its pedagogical impact. For requests that are due to an instructor’s own
health condition that are for limited periods of time such as one week, the chair may approve
the modality change without further consultation. For changes under other circumstances for

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longer than two classes in a row and up to two weeks, the chair [or designee] will consult with
the dean as necessary, but in all cases will inform the dean. No class may change modality for
more than two successive class meetings without the advance approval of the chair [or
designee] and where appropriate the dean must be informed and agree. Any modality change
requests for longer than two weeks will require the final approval of the CRRTF Education
Working Group. A chair or dean may elect to shift teaching responsibility to another instructor
instead of pursuing a change in modality.

We encourage chairs and deans to consider contingency plans for absences ahead of time, since
changes in modality may not be sufficient to ensure the class can be offered if instructors are
symptomatic.

5. Masks, Eating Food and Drinking Liquid in Class

Instructors should remind students that masks worn appropriately are mandatory in class. If a
student is not wearing a face mask correctly, instructors may ask them to adjust it to cover their
nose and mouth. For students who forget their face mask at home, they can pick up a
disposable face mask at the Wooden Center. In addition, under most circumstances
consumption of food or drink should be highly discouraged in class because it would require
removal of masks. However, masks may be removed briefly to allow for hydration or medically
necessary consumption of food as appropriate.

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