On February 17, an official statement was released by President Andrea Luxton and Provost Christon Arthur announcing new changes to masking restrictions which will come into place on March 1. The changes being made to the current protocol involve moving to “mask-optional” expectations for most public places on campus. Currently, the only locations explicitly defined as being optional for masking includes the residence buildings like Lamson and Meier Hall, and the list for places where masks are still required is listed more clearly. These places include classrooms, the line and serving area of the cafeteria, and in “large gatherings across campus,” which are defined as the following, “New Life Fellowship, One Place Fellowship and Andrews University programs in Pioneer Memorial Church and the Howard Performing Arts Center.” However, on March 1, these guidelines are expected to relax as the university moves to more widespread mask-optional policies.
According to the emailed statement, the reasoning behind this decision was made after the University, “[monitored] the changing environment and now growing hope that surrounds the current situation with the global COVID-19 pandemic, especially as it relates to current statistics and case trends for Andrews University, Berrien County and southwest Michigan.”
With this shift to more relaxed guidelines, Andrews University takes part in the current trend with state governments around the country, like New Mexico and California, to change or completely remove mask mandates that are currently in place. With four documented cases in isolation—as last checked with the release of this article—students on campus are ramping up towards the end of midterms and the incoming spring break. Whether cases on campus will stagnate or rise in reaction to these changes of the protocol will be revealed in the oncoming weeks.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.