Iowa State faculty senate leaders ask Board of Regents for the ability to require masks in classrooms
Phillip SitterThe Iowa Board of Regents showed no indication during meetings this week that it may change its policy on university face mask mandates, but Iowa State University faculty senate leaders did press the board for action.
Regents met in Ames for various committee hearings Wednesday and then for a full board meeting on Thursday.
During public comments Wednesday, Iowa State's faculty senate president, Andrea Wheeler, asked the Board of Regents to allow instructors to require masks in their classrooms "for pedagogical and health reasons."
A federal court ruling this week that temporarily blocked Iowa's law that prohibits school districts and other local government entities from requiring masks be worn — a ruling that opened the door for many schools to put mandates back in place — does not affect the state's public universities.
More:Ames schools to reimpose mask mandate Friday, following federal court order
Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa have all complied with a regents' policy issued in May that masks should not be required on campus. Legally, the regents could choose to make masks required.
"I need to control my classroom, as a teacher," Wheeler said, adding that she spoke for the concern of colleagues, senators and the faculty they represent — "that they are losing authority in their environments, because of this decision."
"I fear the loss of education benefits to students and the impact on learning objectives. Instructors at ISU have weathered 18 months of a pandemic, and students have borne the brunt, and they need our help," she said.
Other ways COVID-19 is affecting college life:
- Dialogue is key to bridging potential COVID vaccination divides between roommates, Iowa university officials say
- Iowa State student club members, leaders excited for a return to in-person activities
- Iowa State's first ever online winter session, started amid the pandemic, was popular among juniors and seniors
Jon Perkins, Iowa State's faculty senate president-elect, spoke after Wheeler, adding, "The bottom line is, the perceived risk and uncertainty brought on by the lack of vaccine and mask mandates at ISU has caused fear in the minds of numerous ISU faculty members."
The regents also said in May that vaccination against COVID-19 should not be a requirement for enrollment — though strongly encouraged, as with masks — and the regents' position was that state law prohibited them from creating any vaccine mandates.
"When it comes to risk," Perkins said, "faculty are concerned that the board values individual freedom over their safety."
"Those who reject masks and vaccines endanger not just themselves, but those around them. No one is an island. Living among other human beings requires a balance between personal choice and the greater good," he said.
He added that faculty are not only afraid, but "frustrated that they weren't included in the decision-making process in the first place."
Perkins called for more consultation in the future with faculty on important issues, such as COVID-19 policies, as well as more transparency in decision-making processes.
He said a lack of transparency risks opening the board to future liability and damaging the university's reputation and faculty morale. He called on the board to publicly disclose its decision-making processes, "as well as the board's plans on what it might take, in terms of increased infection rates, etc., for the board to change its stance on mask mandates and other current policies," including whether courses can be taught online.
"The magnitude of this pandemic is such that faculty deserve at least this much," Perkins said.
The regents did not publicly speak about the comments during meetings Wednesday or Thursday, but Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen added Thursday that "faculty continue to request the option to require face coverings in their classrooms."
Faculty at Iowa State and Iowa have been pressing administrators and the regents for months for the ability to mandate masks in their classrooms, offices and laboratories.
More:Iowa State faculty calling for a mask mandate, similar to UI faculty's recent demands
An Iowa State professor called in May for faculty to be allowed to require masks in their offices when meeting with students, and in August, he sent a petition to Wintersteen asking for just that. The petition was signed by hundreds of faculty, graduate students and other staff at Iowa State.
A week earlier, hundreds of faculty at the University of Iowa sent a similar letter to the Board of Regents, asking them to consider mandates or incentives for masks and vaccines, as well as expanded online options for teaching.
The Iowa faculty's letter concluded by stating that "morale is at an all-time low" and that the university was at risk of losing students and employees who might opt to work or learn at a university with more strict protocols.
More news from ISU this week:Iowa State suspends crew club activities following two reviews of fatal boating accident that killed two
Phillip Sitter covers education for the Ames Tribune, including Iowa State University and PreK-12 schools in Ames and elsewhere in Story County. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.