Boston College Professors Request Classroom Mask Mandate

Newton MA

02 September, 2021

9:49 AM

Description

NEWTON, MA — Over 300 Boston College faculty members are pushing back against the university's decision not to require masks in classrooms during the fall semester, asserting that BC's policy is "difficult" to understand and puts the school community at risk. BC's current mask policy contradicts those of most other local higher education institutions, including Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Holy Cross, WPI, and many more who are at the very least requiring masks indoors. "BC's policy appears to impose avoidable risks on faculty, their families, and the students and other clients that they serve, and it introduces unnecessary complexity into classroom relationships," said the faculty in an open letter to BC administrators. According to BC's website, fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and students are not required to wear masks anywhere on campus. Those who have vaccination exemptions and visiting guests must wear masks both indoors and outdoors. In addition, the university must require masks in areas with public access due to Newton and Boston's indoor mask mandates. In their letter, the faculty outlined a list of health concerns including the fact that certain vaccinated people remain at risk for severe illness, especially older faculty members with health conditions, and many BC students are in contact with unvaccinated children who may have special needs. "Given the dangers from the Delta variant of COVID-19, and given the measures that are being taken throughout the state and at peer institutions, BC's policy is difficult for us to understand," said the faculty. ‌ ‌‌"We‌ ‌would‌ ‌like‌ ‌to‌ ‌see‌ ‌the‌ ‌University‌ ‌prioritize‌ ‌coherence‌ ‌and‌ ‌proactivity‌ ‌in‌ ‌prevention‌ ‌policy,‌‌ with‌ ‌a‌ ‌mask‌ mandate‌ ‌for‌ ‌all‌ ‌campuses," they continued. BC Spokesperson Jack Dunn said the reason behind the university's mask policy is that 99.3% of students, faculty, and staff are now vaccinated, a higher rate than any other college or university in the state, and they are trying to maintain a "normal teaching environment." "We encourage anyone who wants to wear a mask in class to do so," he said. "We also intend to be flexible in our approach and will make adjustments to our policy as needed." Patch has reached out to Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller for comment and will update this article when we hear back.