BY TUCKER REILLY, EDITOR IN CHIEF
In the wake of St. Bonaventure University lifting its mask mandate last Friday, some are asking questions about the future of the policy. The current mandate, which requires masks only in classrooms and the university’s Wellness Center, aligns with New York State’s own mandate expiration last week.
Tom Missel, the university’s chief communications officer, acknowledged that governor Kathy Hochul’s choice not to renew the mandate was one of several key factors in Bonaventure’s decision.
“The mandate’s expiration was absolutely a factor [in the university’s decision to relax their requirement], although there were others being considered,” said Missel. “If the county was surging in cases or positive test rates or if the cases on campus were surging, we would have thought twice about it. The dropping of the statewide mandate coincided with the county’s own rates declining and it being nearly a week since we had a new student case. All of these factors combined and led to the decision.”
Missel described the uncertainty of allowing the campus community to unmask while employees could not, due to the HERO Act in New York State. The HERO Act requires all private employers to take safety precautions against disease, including facial coverings and social distancing in the workplace.
“The state did have another mandate, the HERO Act, that required employees to stay masked and that complicated things,” said Missel. “The next day [Feb. 11], they made a revision to the HERO act which thankfully allowed employees not to be masked.”
While the current policy requires masks in classrooms, debates about the requirement are already underway. The university faculty senate sent out a poll to all on-campus professors Tuesday, attempting to gather information prior to its meeting this week. Dr. Rene Hauser, interim dean of the university’s school of education, described the process currently underway
“All full-time faculty members got an invitation to participate in this anonymous poll, with a couple of different options,” said Hauser. “Get rid of the policy, keep the policy, wait and re-evaluate the policy, etc. Anne Teglund, the vice chair of the faculty senate, will share the results with the body prior to their meeting today.”
Hauser currently sits on the faculty senate as a dean and was the chair last semester.
Missel explained the university’s current perspective on the issue, as well as reasons the current policy might stay in place.
“It’s certainly something to consider after midterm break, although classrooms do remain the most congregate setting on campus. While we recognize that this newest variant is not as severe for people of college age, it does have the potential to harm faculty, some of whom are quite old.”
When the faculty senate last considered a university-wide mask mandate, a primary issue was public opinion. Instructors who chose to require masks in their classroom feared negative perception from students, especially when compared to their colleagues who did not hold such a requirement. Hauser described the issue as “still present,” and outlined the risk, specifically for non-tenured faculty.
“When you are a non-tenured professor, you are vulnerable and course evaluations are the things that help you get tenure,” said Hauser. “The concern is that non-tenured professors would be afraid of the negative effect mask requirements may have on their course evaluations. One would hope that students at St. Bonaventure would be more understanding but stranger things have happened.”
After the faculty senate meets, they will offer a recommendation to university administration, who will decide the path forward. Missel described the ideological split between faculty members and the difficulty of predicting the next step.
“The reality is there is push and pull on both ends. Some faculty members want the policy to remain out of an abundance of caution and others believe it impedes the learning process,” said Missel. “Whatever they recommend, we will consider after midterm break.”
reillyt19@bonaventure.edu
