Georgetown & Masks: Unnecessary Return of Mandate

Like many college students, I have been hoping that this would be the year my education could finally leave Covid-19 behind. When I wrote earlier this year about my university’s response to the virus, I suggested that Georgetown University should issue a partial tuition refund as a recompense for the indisputably inferior virtual classes we had been forced to accept at normal cost. I also said that the university should lift its mask mandate. While no partial refund has been forthcoming, Georgetown did eventually lift its mask mandate, beginning on March 21. Not quite three weeks of mask-optional learning went by in which the university appeared to be getting back to normal. The Georgetown Institute of Politics hosted a large event featuring Representative Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.) on April 5. On that same day, the Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service Instagram account posted pictures of university officials with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) at a Nashville event with masks absent. All of this was something to celebrate, given that 98 percent of Georgetown students and faculty are vaccinated.

And yet, on April 6, the Georgetown community received an email from the university reinstituting the indoor mask mandate, effective the next day. The email explained that this was because of a “significant increase in Covid-19 cases on the Main Campus and Medical Center campuses this week, particularly among undergraduate students.” The mask mandate has not been reinstated on the Georgetown Law Center campus, which has not seen a comparable rise of cases. These are private mandates, as the D.C. government lifted its indoor mask mandate on most public spaces beginning on March 1.

JA

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Jacob Adams

Jacob Adams is a writer from northeast Pennsylvania.

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Like many college students, I have been hoping that this would be the year my education could finally leave Covid-19 behind. When I wrote earlier this year about my university’s response to the virus, I suggested that Georgetown University should issue a partial tuition refund as a recompense for the indisputably inferior virtual classes we had been forced to accept at normal cost. I also said that the university should lift its mask mandate. While no partial refund has been forthcoming, Georgetown did eventually lift its mask mandate, beginning on March 21. Not quite three weeks of mask-optional learning went by in which the university appeared to be getting back to normal. The Georgetown Institute of Politics hosted a large event featuring Representative Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.) on April 5. On that same day, the Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service Instagram account posted pictures of university officials with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) at a Nashville event with masks absent. All of this was something to celebrate, given that 98 percent of Georgetown students and faculty are vaccinated.

And yet, on April 6, the Georgetown community received an email from the university reinstituting the indoor mask mandate, effective the next day. The email explained that this was because of a “significant increase in Covid-19 cases on the Main Campus and Medical Center campuses this week, particularly among undergraduate students.” The mask mandate has not been reinstated on the Georgetown Law Center campus, which has not seen a comparable rise of cases. These are private mandates, as the D.C. government lifted its indoor mask mandate on most public spaces beginning on March 1.