Mask and COVID response matters as of December 1, 2021

Louis Gross, Faculty Senate President

As of this date, Chancellor Plowman has removed all masking requirements on campus as per her message today to campus. This arises because of actions of the State legislature and Governor, not because of any change in CDC guidance for institutions of higher education, which still encourages masking on campuses such as UTK without a vaccination mandate. The most recent change to remove the mask mandate (note that a mandate for masks has been in effect for the past week) arose because of legal challenges and an associated injunction. 

So how can faculty respond? First, I suggest that the highest priority for faculty should be to ensure that you act based on the health and safety of you, your family and the campus community you interact with. This means to continue to encourage vaccination (and boosters for those eligible) and to continue to encourage personal safety measures such as distancing and masking as per CDC Guidance. 

Second, regarding meeting with students and others, with no mask mandate the campus cannot  require individuals on campus to wear masks. However this doesn't mean that you must meet with individuals in your own office space if doing so with those not wearing masks makes you fear for your health and those you interact with at home. A completely reasonable response you might make in this case is simply to place a note outside your office stating that you request that all individuals who meet with you in your office wear a mask (and that you will do the same). If someone wishes to meet with you and does not wish to follow this request, inform them to email you and you will set up a virtual meeting with them.

Third, regarding class meetings for example for study sessions or exams, I suggest emailing all the students in your classes informing them that, with no mandate on campus you are aware that you cannot require all to wear masks in any class meetings. However you are requesting that, as they have complied with mask requirements for most of the semester, which has contributed to the very low rates of infections on campus, they continue to do so in the few remaining class gatherings. This is indicative of the Volunteer spirit in doing what we can to protect the health of our fellow Volunteers. 

Thanks for all you do to maintain our campus community in these challenging times.