I can only get to that part without fighting by being in stealth. Just now, with a different character, I went in and dealt with the first two rooms without alerting the others (entering combat, killing them, re-stealthing) and when I got to that part, the burrower was not in that position. Every other time, I had been in stealth the whole time. So, to answer your question: seems so.
It's weird though, every other burrower moves around or patrols, but that one will just sit there and face the wall. I don't know why entering combat (without alerting that particular burrower) would make any difference.