Ryan Browne
Staff Reporter
On March 12, Pacific Lutheran University changed its mask policy from mandating masks in all indoor areas to being mask-optional in most indoor areas —excluding the health center, the athletics training room and the counseling center —in response to the state and county’s new guidelines.Â
Removing the mask mandate at PLU has caused a variety of emotions on campus, from relief and happiness, to concern and anger.Â
Some professors feel that removing masks is a step in the right direction to getting things back to normal and helping students learn better in the classroom. Others have said that it is too early to remove the mask mandate and doing so puts the student body and faculty at risk.
“I think that masking has had a much greater impact on the classroom environment than I would have ever expected,” said Mike Schleeter, chair of the philosophy department. “One’s ability to see students’ faces and to be seen by students humanizes the learning experience in a really important way. I think that as a teacher, when I am unable to really perceive students’ reactions to what’s going on in the class it becomes much harder to adjust in real time to accommodate learning needs.”
On the other hand, multiple professors expressed that they felt they should have been more in the loop with the decision to remove the mask mandate.Â
“The school responded to the governor’s new idea that there was no longer a need to require a mask for all occasions,” said Jon Kershner, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion. “There was no vote and no discussion about it, simply that this was the new decision. That seems to be what’s happening at schools all over the state, so I understand where the school was coming from making the decision because the governor was making the decision.”Â
Dean of Students Eva Frey explained the decision behind removing the mask mandate.
“The swiftness of the changes of the mask mandate came from Washington State and the Pierce County Health Department, and so the school’s response was after changes were already being presented by those two entities,” Frey said.
