Comfort/Service animals in labs

[Caracal]

But most of the adjunct faculty at Big Urban College will allow students with accommodation requests to opt out of laboratory practicums, or have their practicums converted into non-practicum formats. Why do so many adjunct faculty drop core standards this way? Because they are afraid of student complaints, afraid of negative reviews, afraid of not being rehired. Our adjuncts also do not have offices or have office hours. They rarely advise students and don't have good mechanisms to meet with students. And finally, our adjuncts just don't have the respect or self-confidence to assert themselves as professors. What this means is that "inquiries" or "requests" coming out of ancillary administrative arms (e.g. student services, registrar) are interpreted more as demands. The adjunct faculty are far less likely to engage in dialogue, compromise on requests, and especially refuse requests.

I'd also imagine that the adjunct faculty just aren't particularly inclined to take on the extra work of dealing with all of this given that they are paid per course and have no contracts. When they get one of these requests they are basically looking at a decision tree where allowing students to opt out of the lab leads to using some sort of alternative they've already created for students. If they say "no you can't opt out of labs," they go to the other side of the tree, which is filled with things that will take time and energy and nobody will pay them extra for. If there is a reasonable accommodation that probably means they have to stay longer in the lab, or arrange a separate lab. If there is no good alternative, that might mean meetings with the student and various administrators and the chair. At best, that's not a fun way to spend your time. At worst, it might not help their chances of being rehired. As an adjunct, I tend to assume that the less my chair thinks about me the better.

[Aster]

Yes, another problem with adjunctification is the inherent part-time status of most adjunct faculty.

If the professor is only on campus once or twice per week (or worse, only on campus for limited hours in a work day) it may be more difficult for those professors (and their students) to use campus services. Like alternate class meeting times. Alternate office hour times. Alternate assessment times. Alternate assessment buildings and classrooms. Test Center times.

Part time faculty deserve to have resources that allow them to operate as regular professors. They need office space, need to have (paid!) weekly office hours, and need to be easily accessible to the rest of the faculty in their department. This allows professional collegiality and collaborative problem-solving to deal with complex issues... like unreasonable student accommodation requests. Keeping a "temp" faculty system in place that isolates/ignores adjuncts is self-destructive to best education practices.

[Caracal]

Yes, another problem with adjunctification is the inherent part-time status of most adjunct faculty.

If the professor is only on campus once or twice per week (or worse, only on campus for limited hours in a work day) it may be more difficult for those professors (and their students) to use campus services. Like alternate class meeting times. Alternate office hour times. Alternate assessment times. Alternate assessment buildings and classrooms. Test Center times.

Part time faculty deserve to have resources that allow them to operate as regular professors. They need office space, need to have (paid!) weekly office hours, and need to be easily accessible to the rest of the faculty in their department. This allows professional collegiality and collaborative problem-solving to deal with complex issues... like unreasonable student accommodation requests. Keeping a "temp" faculty system in place that isolates/ignores adjuncts is self-destructive to best education practices.

Yeah. Having an office makes a huge difference for me as an adjunct. It means I can have regular office hours and meet with students by appointment without it being a huge extra burden since I'm just there between classes anyway.

[mythbuster]

Just as a heads up, the American Society for Microbiology just updated their safety guide for teaching labs. It includes an entire section on just this issue!
https://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v20i3.1975

[namazu]

Thanks, mythbuster!

[Hibush]

Just as a heads up, the American Society for Microbiology just updated their safety guide for teaching labs. It includes an entire section on just this issue!
https://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v20i3.1975

I would liket to be a fly on the wall when the following guidelines are discussed with the student

Paws covered - The service animal should have their paws covered when they are walking in the lab to protect them from potentially getting cut by glass or picking up pathogens that might be lurking on the floor. This requirement is no different from students having to wear shoes in the lab.

Impervious covering - If the animal must be at the bench then the animal should be covered with an impervious covering so as to protect the animal from potential spills. We must always keep in mind that the animal will be below the bench surface so any item that rolls off of or liquids that spill off of the bench could potentially harm the animal.

Eye Protection - The service animal should wear goggles/eye covering to protect the animal from spills (just as we protect the eyes of our students).
   

[Kron3007]

Timely...

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/29/800911230/service-animals-in-the-lab-who-decides