Since the mask mandate on Bellarmine’s campus was recalled and wearing a mask was made optional, the university community has split on the issue.
More and more students, faculty and staff have stopped wearing their masks on campus. Sophomore business major Bryce Hutchins is one of them.
Hutchins said: “I don’t put a ton of thought into it. To wear a mask can be uncomfortable, and I do enjoy, since the mandate has been lifted, seeing other people’s faces. To me, if they say we don't have to, then it must be safe.”
Many members of the Bellarmine community agree with Hutchins, including Dr. Timothy Glasscock, music department chairman and associate professor of choral studies.
“In the music department, singing is what I teach and what we do in the choirs, and there’s absolutely nothing more difficult than trying to communicate with someone or to create some sort of music with a mask on your face,” Glasscock said. “We did our two years, and we’re done.”
Still, Glasscock said that he does not take Covid lightly and will wear a mask or even not go out in public at all if he feels sick.
Not all members of the Bellarmine community are ready to do away with their masks. Director of Campus Ministry Laura Kline still wears her mask while on campus.
“I don’t enjoy wearing a mask, but I do feel like it helps to some degree,” Kline said. “This also may just be performative and it’s a placebo that tricks my brain into thinking that I’m doing more than I really am. I continue to see it as something that if it helps, great, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t hurt me to wear a mask.”
Jasmina Harambasic is a psychology major, and said she shares many of Kline’s sentiments about mask wearing.
“I guess my main reason is that we’ve been in this pandemic so long that I’m worried it’s never going to end, and I guess part of my avoiding that is still wearing a mask,” Harambasic said. “And it doesn’t bother me, so I guess why stop, especially if it’s been proven to be helpful.”
Of the 12 faculty, staff and students interviewed, none thought that the percentage of people still wearing masks on campus was more than 30%.
Comments