Unmasked: Ignored Student Perspectives
Harley Woods | April 7, 2022
Ruby Jane Moser
Becca Boynton in the WWC library.
Face masks became a societal norm with the COVID-19 pandemic and not everyone agrees with their usage. The Warren Wilson College (WWC) health and safety guidelines still require masks indoors and in common spaces, unless an individual is actively eating or drinking.
Division broke out on campus after certain cities and counties lifted mask mandates. Home of WWC, Buncombe County, lifted its local mask mandate on Feb. 16.
One New York Times article cited that northeastern states have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases alongside lifted mask restrictions and reduced testing sites.
Because WWC is a private institution, the administrative bodies responsible for health and safety guidelines reserve the right to require facial coverings indoors. Students have observed their peers not wearing masks indoors despite this requirement.
First-year student and WWC soccer player, Gabriel McGee, communicated his difficulty adhering to the WWC mask mandate.
“The statewide mandate has been lifted,” McGee said. “I believe there’s definitely a place for masks, but if it’s not universally enforced is it truly making a difference?”
The CDC article — published one year ago — states that wearing masks indoors helps reduce COVID-19 transmission.
McGee critiqued the safety of wearing a mask in line in the cafeteria only to take off masks when an individual sits down.
“If you wear a mask in (Gladfelter) and you show up to a party without one, you might be making a difference in (Gladfelter) but you’re still doing the same thing,” McGee said. “I feel that the choice to come to college in-person, that in itself is a risk. You’re voluntarily putting yourself in a space with a lot of people.”
Although specific to small indoor gatherings, the CDC states that maskless events are acceptable. Medium and large gatherings are advised to be avoided.
A portion of the student body utilizes the WWC App to ask their peers to wear masks; these students state that it is disrespectful to the disabled community to ignore mask protocols.
Mask-related conflict between students escalated on Friday, Mar. 25 in Gladfelter Dining Hall. The confronter took to the WWC App with a photo of a maskless student, taken without consent. The post garnered over 100 comments before it was taken down.
First-year student, Mary Mirili, expressed her experience.
“It’s like everyone was waiting for the occasion to get at me,” Mirili said. “Before that, I never thought something like that would cause so much stress, and then I realized why people delete social media.”
Mirili stated with exasperation that the confronter chose an inappropriate time and method to address the students at her table.
“They tried to turn people into villains but in the end they are the bullies themselves,” Mirili said. “Everybody’s just so comfortable behind a keyboard, they forget that their words can impact.”
McGee also stated that the confronter did not effectively communicate in the moment.
“The way that I responded — I tried to start a conversation, and they just looked at me,” McGee crossed his arms and mimicked the blank expression he observed. “When someone comes at me and initially their first way of responding is they’re not going to talk to me — they don’t have any respect for me — I can’t sympathize with them if they aren’t going to show me any respect.”
What McGee shared correlates with an ever-present knowledge at Warren Wilson that students, in large part, are not actively listening to their peers.
“I think people deserve to have a voice, and you should be able to have an opinion without someone immediately coming to your neck and calling you an asshole,” McGee said.
When news such as the development of a new COVID-19 variant or the CDC releases new guidelines, the WWC Emergency Response Team (ERT) updates campus with any changed precautions.
The most recent update from the ERT was sent out on Feb. 16 stating that masks are still required indoors despite Buncombe County mandate having expired. The email also included updated quarantine guidelines in accordance with the CDC.
McGee stated that the guidelines do not seem effective at WWC.
“I think there’s definitely a guise of safety, especially initially when COVID-19 hit,” McGee said. “It wasn’t two-sided, it was just, you wear a mask. I think as time has passed and people have advocated for different things, I feel as though there are two different sides to it.”
McGee mentioned that there is political rhetoric and belief in conspiracy theories that is often associated with those who are less diligent about masks.
“I think it doesn’t need to be a sided thing, but I think people need to understand that we do have personal freedoms,” McGee said. “I think bodily autonomy is extremely important whether it be about vaccination, abortion or wearing a mask.”
Another reason McGee believes that has an influence on the WWC mask mandate is the culture on campus. McGee stated again that he values the role of discussion over assumption.
“I also want them to be able to listen to me and to be able to understand that I have rhetoric and that I have reasoning for my behavior and it’s not just arbitrary ignorance,” McGee said. “It’s not just me not caring about people.”