A progressive liberal arts institution has proposed a new masking rule that would have everyone in a class wear masks if even one student requested them.
Each student at Amherst College in Massachusetts will get an anonymous poll under the new policy, which would question them if they support requiring masks in the classroom.
The Massachusetts institution’s provost and dean of faculty, Catherine Epstein, will enforce it. She informed her coworkers on September 29 that the new rule will take effect on October 17.
At that time, she said, “based on the results of an anonymous poll done in each class or lab, masking will either continue to be required in classrooms, teaching labs, and all other educational settings, or it will be mask optional.”
Before October 17, she said, “faculty members will undertake an anonymous poll of their classrooms, either by collecting handwritten (no names!) answers to the question, “Should masks be needed in this class?” or by issuing a survey.”
Masks will be necessary if anybody in the class, including the teacher, wishes to continue disguising, Epstein wrote.
Furthermore, even schools that rule that masks are optional will respect a person’s decision to wear a mask.
She said, “Faculty are invited to rethink the choice with another poll in early November,” and stressed that “the college will need a tougher masking technique for an acceptable length” after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The new guidelines are a significant departure from the school’s policy from a month ago, which mandated that all students enter classrooms, studios, teaching labs, and all other instructional facilities wearing a KN95 mask.
Administrators’ decision to alter the policy is perplexing given the continued drop in COVID cases nationwide.
In Massachusetts, there were only 245 patients predominantly hospitalized for the virus as of September 27, out of 9,047 new confirmed cases.
As of Friday, there were 45,725 new COVID cases throughout the nation, 3,570 new hospital admissions, and only 325 new COVID-related fatalities.
Amherst has developed a reputation in recent years for its stringent masking regulations.
The institution said that it has enhanced its public health measures before to the Fall 2021 term as the Delta variety continued to spread.
Regardless of vaccination status, all staff, teachers, and students were compelled to cover their faces when within college facilities under its policy at the time.
If a student did not have a KN95 at the time, they were additionally obliged to double-mask.
However, the recent instruction, which was released just before the semester started, spurred several students to address authorities in an open letter.
More than 250 students at the school requested officials to be more open about their decision-making process, include student feedback, and remove some of the additional limits in the letter, according to The Amherst Student.
The letter said, “We seek modification and explanation” since the updated set of instructions “appears to be out of step with the current CDC, state, local, and peer institution standards for COVID-19 response.”
“At this time, it is difficult to think that Amherst is devoted to our whole student experience, and harder to restore the customary excitement that comes with coming to campus each autumn,” says the student body.
The institution then mandated that a KN95 mask be worn in all indoor settings, including common areas and public spaces, starting in March, while several colleges throughout the nation began to ease COVID regulations as a result of the dropping numbers.
For the time, Amherst’s policy said, “Masks are optional for students in their resident halls, except at planned activities.”
KN95 masks are still needed in all other interior campus places, with the exception of when a student is alone in a private office and the door is closed, the policy said. It further stated that although masks are not required outside, students are requested to “have a mask nearby.”
The statement at the time said, “Whether inside or out, we urge everyone to discuss with one another their personal preferences and to respect one another’s requests.”