With the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of regulations have changed not just at LHU but just about everywhere outside your home. It has become the new norm to wear a mask or facial coverings when you go out in public.
At LHU it’s even to the point where students can get cited for violating the code of conduct in the handbook. The LHU student hand book says under student conduct regulations, “Violation of any state, regional, or local emergency orders or declarations, mandatory policies or mandatory health advisory requirements, as well as any emergency declarations coming from the University Administration (e.g. social distancing, wearing facial coverings, etc.).” Students found violating this are subject to the disciplinary sanctions in the hand book as well.
These regulations are in place to keep students, staff, faculty and visitors on campus safe during this pandemic. This only works when everyone follows these regulations.
On October 3, LHU held a dedication ceremony for the bald eagle statue that was gifted by the class of 1966. At that event, an alumni from the class of 1966 present at the event was pictured without a mask or face covering while standing within six feet of two other people.
Ron W. Darbeau, the Provost and Vice President Academic Affairs, said in an email correspondence, “The University takes COVID-19 seriously and encourages all LHU visitors and guests to follow established guidelines.” However, only encouraging visitors to follow the guidelines is not enough, especially when students are subject to disciplinary sanction if they themselves do not follow the said guidelines.
While the code of conduct in the handbook is only applicable to current students, there is still a requirement that all people on campus have facial coverings. Even if a person has a medical condition and can’t wear a mask for a facial covering, they are expected to wear a facial shield. According to the Director of Public Safety, Tim Stringer, in an email correspondence, “If a non-LHU community member is not wearing a facial covering, the person will be asked to wear a mask and we [public safety officer] will have them to provide to the person. If they refuse to wear a mask, they will be asked to leave campus.”
Enforcing these regulations are important to not only keeping everyone safe during this pandemic, but also upholding LHU’s integrity. If situations like this go unmentioned or unnoticed and nothing is done about it, that shows to not only the students, but the community outside LHU, that we as a campus do not follow the rules and regulations we set for our community.
That reflects poorly on us as a university regardless if the regulation that was violated is considered a minor or a major offense. We need to hold all people that come to the LHU campus to the standard that we expect of our students, otherwise we are just hypocrites when we say LHU takes Covid-19 seriously.
