Calissa Hagen
Reporter
Anyone else annoyed that Pacific Lutheran University spammed our emails throughout summer, but there still seems to be no consensus on what the mask rules are in the classroom? We all got hundreds of emails from PLU regarding new mandates for masks and vaccination status, but the rules for what happens in classrooms seems to be confused. Each of my teachers has a different idea of what the rules are, and it doesn’t matter if the classes are in the same building or even the same room. Some teachers say keep your masks on during the entire class regardless if you want to drink or eat something, and some say you can take your masks off to eat and drink.
Of course, there are also windows. Some professors say that all windows must be open for circulation, while some seem to be unaware of this rule and allow the students to open or close the windows based on the temperature of the room. With all the confusion behind the rules, no one knows what to do, and with covid numbers rising at PLU, it seems detrimental that PLU makes it clear what they expect from both students and teachers.
Last year PLU had clear-cut rules and due to this Covid numbers were fairly low throughout the entire year. Now we have had multiple outbreaks and yet PLU hasn’t done anything to stop it. It could be that they have relayed this information to the professors and as we all know some professors do not check their emails, so I will acknowledge it might not completely be PLU’s fault.
Overall, you would think that they could easily send out one email with easy instructions to both faculty and students so everyone is on the same page, and then put it on the covid page on the PLU website. It seems that PLU is good at making big decisions, but relaying that information to staff and students is the hard part. One thing I can say though, is that PLU is not known for its communication skills. Â
