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Schools with “mandatory” mask policies: what is the enforcement mechanism?

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY–ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WELCOME

A professor elsewhere  at a school with a "mandatory" mask policy is wondering about how he should go about enforcing it, and is looking for suggestions.   Obviously asking for compliance is the first step, but what of the student won't comply?  What about a student who wears the mask inproperly (e.g, the nose is exposed) or frequently removes it to take a drink of water?   For those already teaching, how are you handling these issues?  If your school lacks a mandatory mask policy, what are you doing?

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28 responses to “Schools with “mandatory” mask policies: what is the enforcement mechanism?”

  1. Jason Brennan

    At Georgetown, we're supposed to do this in this order:

    1. "Hey, everyone, just a reminder that all student are supposed to wear masks."
    2. "No, seriously, everyone is supposed to wear masks."
    3. "Okay, students, because of a failure to abide by the mask policy, I am cancelling class today and you are dismissed."

    Reply
  2. tenure-track professor

    We can report them to the administration for violation of the code of conduct, which can lead to expulsion. I also included in my syllabi that each refusal to wear a mask results in a 10% penalty to their final grade.

    Reply
  3. James Miller

    If most of the students are wearing cloth masks, it's probably not worth bothering about. Cloth masks, especially if you factor in the Peltzman Effect where taking a mandatory precaution causes you to take additional risks because you feel safer, at best provide a small protection and might make the situation worse. If a mask mandate can be satisfied with cloth masks, it's theater.

    Reply
  4. Brian Leiter

    A link to a reliable source on this would be helpful in assessing the accuracy of this assessment. It's clear cloth masks are less effective than N95s, but that doesn't necessarily make it "theater." It would be good to have some sources that discuss this. Thanks.

    Reply
  5. James Miller

    Hard to get solid numbers especially if you factor in the Peltzman Effect which I'm guesses most medical studies don't, but this meta study says "Cloth face masks show minimum efficacy in source control than the medical grade mask" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7497125/

    Reply
  6. brandon warmke

    Here is Bowling Green’s:

    "Students are expected to follow BGSU COVID-19 protocols at all times, which includes wearing a face covering in all classrooms, studios, laboratories and shared office spaces for as long as the face covering mandate is in place. Failure to comply with these protocols may result in disciplinary action under the Code of Student Conduct. Please refer to the BGSU COVID-19 website for the most current information about expectations and requirements.

    In the case of a non-compliant student (e.g., not wearing a face covering or wearing one improperly), instructors should 1) ask the student to comply with the mandate and properly put on a face covering; 2) if the student refuses, the instructor asks the student to exit the class; and 3) if the student refuses to exit the class, the instructor should use their discretion about how to handle the situation, which may include canceling the class for that period. Instructors should then make a Student Conduct report of the incident using the online form."

    An aside: I taught all last year on campus with mask requirements. I never had a problem. Students complied without exception and without being asked. I’m sure some will experience problems, but for those just now teaching on campus again, I would expect few or no problems.

    Reply
  7. Steven DeLay

    "Just 15 days to flatten the curve."

    Reply
  8. Thornton Lockwood

    The article Miller cites, "Efficacy of cloth face mask in prevention of novel coronavirus infection transmission: A systematic review and meta-analysis," was published in July 2020. Can't imagine that is a valid source of scientific information 13 months later. I'm no epidemiologist, but a single scientific article from over a year ago is hardly authoritative evidence on a rapidly changing pandemic.

    Reply
  9. John Bussanich

    The first of many incidents:
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/uga-professor-resigns-mask-georgia-university.html

    Reply
  10. Enrique Guerra-Pujol

    I am at UCF, which has cowered to DeSantis and thus does not require masks, but worse yet, I am being forced to teach five sections of 200 students — three of these sections meet back to back to back from 4:30pm to 8:50 pm (almost five hours straight), while the other two meet back to back, putting me in harms's way for another three continuous hours. I have asked to move these classes or outdoors (or remotely) and have couched my request as a request for a "reasonable accommodation" — but my pleas have been repeatedly denied. This is absolute madness.

    Reply
  11. Alan Nelson

    At UNC/Chapel Hill we are to tell the student to leave and not return without a properly worn mask. If they do not leave, we are to dismiss the class and report the student whereupon they are supposed to be disenrolled in the class.

    Reply
  12. Alastair Norcross

    From the conclusion to the solitary, and more than a year old, study cited by James Miller: "Cloth face masks have limited efficacy in combating viral infection transmission. However, it may be used in closed, crowded indoor, and outdoor public spaces involving physical proximity to prevent spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection." No competent reader of the English language could interpret that to mean that indoor mask mandates are 'theater'. As for the 'Peltzman effect', I'd like to know about what other risky behavior indoor mask wearers are likely to engage in because they feel safer wearing masks. I have read about this effect in the context of bicycle helmet wearing. In that context, it's easy to see how cyclists might cycle less cautiously (perhaps go faster, look around less) when wearing helmets. For mask wearers, what is the corresponding risky behavior that they might engage in, just because they are wearing masks? Remember, we are talking about a context in which the students and faculty are already indoors for a class. It's not as if a mask mandate will prompt a student to go indoors and breathe all over other people, when they would otherwise have stayed outside.

    Reply
  13. Jordan Stein

    Taking off 10% for refusing to wear a mask would result in an inaccurate grade that reinforces inequities in our educational system. A better approach would be to have a restorative conversation with the student.

    Reply
  14. James Miller

    One huge vector for the Peltzman effect could be in influencing whether a professor holds class outdoors or indoors. I can easily imagine a professor responding to students not wearing masks by holding class outside.

    Reply
  15. Clayton

    I'd also be interested to know how to navigate this in schools (looking at you, King's College London!) that won't require masking. What we've been told thus far at KCL is:

    "Face coverings are _recommended_ in Classrooms, Libraries, Lifts, and Informal Learning spaces and all other busy indoor areas on campus".

    What they've told the students is this:

    "We recommend students and staff wear a face covering on our campuses unless you are exempt as this helps to protect each other from transmission of the virus. We encourage students and staff to have the COVID vaccination, if possible before you come to campus. Vaccination is the best defence against severe illness and hospitalisation. It is free to everyone in the UK including international students. We will also have vaccination centres on our campuses if you need to have your first or second dose of the vaccine … There will be guidance in place about what we can all do to continue to protect each other and enjoy a healthy campus environment. In line with Government guidance, we will not ask students and staff to physically distance on our campuses from September, however, we may need to re-introduce this alongside other mitigations if there is a change in circumstances."

    Does this give us the power to require students to mask in the spaces we’re in? I'm guessing we don't have this power in lifts, toilets, or corridors. (It will be fun to try to exercise that power, commanding people at urinals or in lifts to mask up announcing that I'm staff as if that counts for something.) Not sure about classrooms. There's no enforcement mechanism mentioned in the guidance we’ve been sent, so no suggestion that we can impose any requirement on the spaces we're in. I'm guessing we'll have to answer for it if we pack up and leave because people don't follow the recommendation to mask up. Does the guidance give us the right to leave or refuse to enter spaces (e.g., meetings, the corridors and lifts we need to use to get to meetings, teaching, supervision, etc.) when others won't mask? That's also unclear, but I doubt it. I'd love to at least be able to use the Georgetown protocol and cancel things if students won't mask.

    (We also don't require vaccinations. If you have some problem student who refuses to do anything to protect others, I guess you could send them to London once you've removed them from your classes.)

    Reply
  16. Alastair Norcross

    I think it would be stretch to call a professor holding class outside in response to unmasked students an instance of the Peltzman effect. To go back to the bike helmet case, if cyclists without helmets had their bikes confiscated, and thus never got injured riding a bike (because they had no bike to ride), would we say that bike helmets don't really protect, because they result in riskier behavior?

    Reply
  17. Elizabeth

    I think some riskier behaviour mask wearers might engage in is closer contact with others. Before masks we may have all been more likely to stay 2m apart, not meet in enclosed spaces like offices, etc. With masks, at least in my experience, I see people standing close to each other, even in places like grocery stores, etc.

    Reply
  18. David M Braun

    The mask policy at University at Buffalo (SUNY) is similar to its policy for all disruptions during class. Applied to wearing masks correctly: First, ask the student to put on a mask (or put the one they have on correctly, e.g., over the nose). Second, if the student does not comply, ask the student to leave. Third, if the student does not leave, call campus police, who will remove the student from class.

    Reply
  19. Joe

    I am all for mask policy in schools, but I think older and pre-existing condition people with or without vaccination should not do in-person just yet. I see a lot of college kids in my town out in the evening – large gatherings, no one is masking. It's party time. Many not vaccinated. Even if you require masks in lecture halls – the cloth mask have relatively low effectiveness for aerosol spread. Let's say you have 100 people gathering in the same space four times a day – say, it's overall 8 classes so 800 different people contact through accumulated aerosol, for twelve weeks – that's what, 240 gatherings of 800 young people people in one space over a period of three months? To think that cloth masks will do anything else than slightly disperse the infection spread is not realistic. Delta has a very very high infection rate – it cannot really be stopped this way, it will burn through the population one way or another and rather fast. The only thing we can do in my view is vaccination – there should not be any unvaccinated individuals allowed on campus at this time, no exception. Older and at risk people, those who cannot vaccinate – students or staff, should stay put for now until the virus exhausts itself. Vaccination might not stop the spread either but it will protect – very well – against severe illness and if you are in good health, you should be fine.

    Reply
  20. Nicolas Delon

    Alastair, I know people who decided to mask up for teaching even before mask mandates were in place for this semester because they have a vulnerable family member. Presumably some of these people wouldn't be teaching in person without the mask, which they think protects them and others. They would, assuming they could, teach remotely. Assuming the latter would be safer (infection and transmission-wise), they seem to be engaging in riskier behavior based on the belief that mask are effectively reducing risk below an acceptable threshold. If that belief is incorrect, this seems to matter. If you are truly concerned about vulnerable family members you shouldn't hang their safety on incorrect beliefs. But they are likely engaging in truly riskier behavior by teaching indoors with a mask on than by teaching remotely, given what we know about mask efficacy and aerosol transmission. I don't know how many people this describes but I'd wager than more than a few feel an undue sense of protection from aerosol transmission by wearing poorly fitting cloth masks.

    (There's that weird belief that people who question mask efficacy are covid skeptics/hoaxers/deniers and/or anti-vax, but most of the people I know who question the efficacy actually base their beliefs, not just on actually reading and dissecting the literature, but based on the assumption that covid is very transmissible. It's precisely because it's quite "risky" (by some metric of what people are willing to get exposed to) that it matters to get the fact right and that many people are raising concerns about mask efficacy. This has nothing to do with conspiracy theories or scientifically uninformed bullshit. This parenthesis is not in response to you, Alastair, but preemptively diffusing the lumping together of different kinds of objections to masks.)

    Reply
  21. Grad

    Indiana University has a very strict policy. Students are required to wear masks in all indoor settings. If a student shows up to class without a mask, they are asked to leave and return with one. If they refuse class is cancelled AND they are reported to the office of student conduct. Repeated violations can result in punishments including suspension.
    Importantly, IU gave all students multiple cloth masks for free and provide PPE for instructors. IU also requires vaccination by all members of the community, as has been covered in the news.
    Also, once again, the use of cloth masks is not “theater,” when everyone wears them. They obviously offer inferior protection to N95s and KN95s and most likely even less protection against Delta particles, but their primary mode of protection is in their inhibition of expelled particles by the wearer toward others. This is covered here (as well as a mountain of other peer reviewed research): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02786826.2020.1862409

    Reply
  22. Brad Skow

    "The only RCT [randomized controlled trial] to test mask-wearing’s specific effectiveness against Covid-19 was a 2020 study by Bundgaard, et al. in Denmark. This large (4,862 participants) RCT divided people between a mask-wearing group (providing “high-quality” three-layer surgical masks) and a control group. It took place at a time (spring 2020) when Denmark was encouraging social distancing but not mask use, and 93 percent of those in the mask group wore the masks at least “predominately as recommended.” The study found that 1.8 percent of those in the mask group and 2.1 percent of those in the control group became infected with Covid-19 within a month, with this 0.3-point difference not being statistically significant."

    https://www.city-journal.org/do-masks-work-a-review-of-the-evidence

    Reply
  23. Brian Leiter

    The Danish study shows that if you're the only wearing a surgical mask, it doesn't make that much of a difference; it doesn't show anything about what happens when everyone is wearing masks.

    Reply
  24. Alastair Norcross

    That seems reasonable, but inapplicable to the mask mandate at my school. Classes here are full. There is no distancing. We aren't meeting in offices, but rather holding office hours by Zoom. The only thing the mask mandate does here is require people to wear masks in settings where they would otherwise not be wearing masks, but would still be present. The whole argument about safety measures encouraging risky behaviors needs to be examined on a case by case basis. I see too many people simply shouting 'Peltzman effect', and not doing the actual thinking required to see whether it's likely to apply in the case under discussion. There is zero chance that the choice here was masked in person classes versus remote classes. The only question was whether to require masks in situations in which students (and faculty) would otherwise be unmasked.

    Reply
  25. Alastair Norcross

    Nicolas, see my reply to Elizabeth. At my school, there was never that kind of choice available. Without a mask mandate, we would all simply have been teaching in person with at least some students unmasked in the room. Perhaps the truly tiny number of faculty wealthy enough to be able to take retirement earlier than they were planning for would have retired rather than taught in person. The rest of us would have been reduced to the kind of begging that has been discussed elsewhere recently. I am fortunate to live in a relatively sane state. The difference between Colorado and Texas (where I lived before Colorado) was nicely brought home to me in class today. We were discussing attempts to give animals lesser (or no) moral status by citing the claim that only humans are rational. I asked the class why someone might make that claim about rationality. I had seven students suggest versions of an evolutionary account of rationality before the eighth suggested that some people might cite a religious justification (e.g. god created humans as rational and animals as nonrational). In Texas, the first answer would have been the religious one, and quite possibly given approvingly (the student here was not endorsing the religious claim).

    Reply
  26. Nicolas Delon

    Yea, that’s why I added caveats. I was only speculating about people who do have that choice and I don’t know how many this applies to. I haven’t seen data on Covid and the Peltzmann effect so it may just be speculation on my part!

    Reply
  27. Toro toro

    Right, but the mask isn't supposed to protect you, so it's unsurprising that it wouldn't. It's supposed to protect those around you. Unless the Danish study provided for the mask group to associate all and only with each other over the course of the study, it doesn't have much evidential value.

    Reply
  28. Bennett Gilbert

    Portland State is set to adopt a strict policy yet one that is not only logical but probably the only really logical and effective approach: if a student is unmasked in class, the instructor is to ask him politely to wear a mask; if the student refuses, the instructor must immediately end the class session; and the student us thereafter expelled from the course.

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