Georgia plans to reopen its 26 public colleges and universities this fall without requiring face masks — despite clear evidence that they play a critical role in reducing the spread of Covid-19. The optional policy worries some faculty.
“Not wearing a mask is dangerous,” complains Matthew Boedy, an associate professor of English at the University of North Georgia.
Instead of a strict requirement, masks will be “strongly encouraged,” according to a reopening plan that the University of Georgia created for its employees.
Mask-wearing has emerged as a political wedge across the country, in part because of President Trump’s refusal to cover his own face in public settings.
As states get ready for a fall semester filled with uncertainty, Georgia appears to be among the most eager to put the pandemic behind itself, even as the coronavirus threat there rises. After dipping to 306 new cases on June 2, the state’s rate of infections is ticking back up, according to data reported by The New York Times.
Georgia State University began a phased reopening on June 1, and Georgia’s flagship in Athens and North Georgia will follow suit on Monday.
Mask-wearing has emerged as a political wedge across the country, in part because of President Trump’s refusal to cover his own face in public settings and his habitual downplaying of the dangers posed by the virus. Georgia, led by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, may be the most visible state to make face coverings optional at colleges, but rules don’t always follow party lines.
Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, issued a policy on Thursday for colleges stating that “students should be encouraged to wear cloth face coverings” when they are within six feet of one another.
Oregon also weighed in this week, offering guidance on Friday that would “require the use of face coverings in settings where six feet of physical distance between people is difficult to maintain.”
Fear of Infecting Others
Faculty at Georgia’s colleges are worried about the health risks not just to themselves and others on campus — but to their loved ones, who could become infected at home or in social visits.
“I’m going to encourage my students to wear masks,” says Ellen Rafshoon, an associate professor of history at Georgia Gwinnett College. “If they decline, I will simply make them sit in the front so they lessen their contact with other students.”
“That way, it cuts off one pathway,” she says.
Colleges in both red and blue states have generally embraced masks as a necessary public safety tool, and here’s why: The challenge of reopening colleges is enormous.
College campuses are built to foster connectivity and social interaction. Students encounter a different group of classmates in every course. From the dining halls to the dorms, an outbreak could occur in any number of locations.
Emory University, a private institution in Atlanta, expects everyone on campus to wear face coverings.
“Remember that your face covering protects others,” Emory says on its website. “When you don’t wear yours, you’re demonstrating a lack of concern for others.”
But Georgia’s public-college system, which enrolls more than 330,000 students statewide, won’t have the same rule.
Boedy, the North Georgia professor, recently wrote an email asking the chancellor of the state system to explain his thinking. Boedy stated that other Southern states, such as South Carolina and Tennessee, are reopening their universities with a mask requirement.
As colleges and universities have struggled to devise policies to respond to the quickly evolving situation, here are links to The Chronicle’s key coverage of how this worldwide health crisis is affecting campuses.
“I ask that you put this simple but important policy in place now,” Boedy wrote.
Chancellor Steve Wrigley’s response: “The state does not require the wearing of a mask. Neither does the federal government. We are strongly encouraging everyone to wear them. Institutions all over the country are taking different approaches as you point out.”
Wrigley wrote that Georgia’s plan is to remind its campuses “repeatedly” about the importance of safety measures such as wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining social distancing.
“We are not making any of these practices requirements but instead are encouraging everyone to follow all of these practices together,” Wrigley wrote. “It is a shared responsibility.”
A spokesman for the chancellor’s office did not respond to a Chronicle request for additional comment.
A Divisive Requirement
Three days after the chancellor sent his email, British researchers announced a study that found that routine mask wearing by more than 50 percent of the population could drastically reduce the spread of Covid-19 and prevent additional “waves” of infection from occurring.
“Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public,” Richard Stutt, a leader of the study, told Reuters.
When the fall semester begins, it is likely that Georgia and Virginia won’t be the only states with mask-optional campuses. A survey of more than 350 college presidents and provosts, conducted by The Chronicle last month, showed strong but not universal support for mandatory masks: Seventy-nine percent said they would implement such a requirement before reopening.
At his University of North Georgia campus, Boedy says that students’ behavior will be heavily influenced by the mask policy.
“I live in a deeply red county, and I would say the percentage of people wearing masks is very low.” But if masks were officially required, most people would comply, he says.
“A mask mandate is like a dress code, students understand a dress code,” Boedy says. “They understand going into a lab, you shouldn’t wear certain types of shoes. … I think they would understand a mandate like that.”
