Updates on the Amherst situation from D: student body is up in arms. Students, parents, and even alumni are angry and letting the school know it. D has even heard rumors that some wealthy alumni are threatening to withhold donations. There is a petition circulating via social media with several hundred signatures. Here is the content of the petition (D sent it to me via text):
"President Martin, Provost Epstein, and Dean Agosto,
Tuesday’s e-mail with the updated COVID-19 guidelines was, for many students, disruptive, confusing, and frustrating. We are writing to you to reconsider both the outdoor mask mandate and the restrictions on town access. We furthermore require a nuanced, thorough response around all other guidelines by the Amherst administration via a follow up e-mail, town hall, or other means. As the email stands currently, the guidelines are not based on any given data, have been developed without student input, are significantly stricter than our peer institutions, and are in conflict with CDC guidelines. Below are the 4 major concerns that we ask you to further revise and clarify.
- The impetus for changing the guidelines since the previous e-mail on August 16th is not transparent. We ask for sources to be cited and for further information about phasing out of these guidelines.
While you cite “more recent information about the course of the Delta variant and the experiences on some campuses over the past couple of months,” you do not provide these resources to us. This is not only frustrating as the guidelines appear to be crafted out of thin air, but also confusing as they contradict what we are seeing and hearing about the transmission of COVID-19. Since March 2020, it has become a daily habit for many of us to closely follow news and check updated local, state, and federal guidelines, however there does not appear to have been a significant report in the past 8 days that would warrant such dramatic changes to our return to school plan. If there is further data that has flown under our radar, it should be shared with us so that we can obtain the most accurate information and understand the reasoning behind your recommendations. If the reasoning behind the new guidelines relates to the “experiences on some campuses over the past couple of months,” we should be privy to that information as well.
Furthermore, if these guidelines are just a phase while students arrive on campus, the plan for moving out of this phase should be communicated clearly as well. Is it contingent upon the number of students who test positive during move-in? What might changes to this phase look like? While September 13th was given as a reassessment date for some protocols, the outdoor mask mandate was not one of them. Why is this?
- It appears that student input has been overlooked during the decision making process. We ask that you consult the COVID-19 Student Task Force for input, and create other less formal avenues for student feedback.
Since there has been no mention of the COVID-19 Student Task Force, it is not clear that there have been any students involved in creating these guidelines. As we are the ones who are ultimately living with the rules, it is disrespectful to ignore our perspectives in developing them. If there have been students involved in this process, then it would be appreciated if you mention that our voice as a student body is being represented. Furthermore, you do not give any opportunity for student feedback in the form of a live discussion, town hall meeting, or forum.
We were all excited to return to Amherst, to in-person learning, and to our beloved community. Remote school could be isolating, stressful, and lack the peer-to-peer interactions that make the college experience worthwhile. While last year students could make a choice to be physically at Amherst or in a different environment, this year we have all committed to the on campus experience. We want to work with the administration to make this semester as productive, enjoyable, and meaningful as possible, but we have not been given that opportunity. In place of conferring with us as responsible young adults that have been managing our exposure and risk of COVID-19 over the past 18 months, we are instead subject to impersonal and cold e-mails that describe seemingly arbitrary guidelines. Given the lack of student input and respect for our feedback and experience, it is very difficult not to adopt the narrative that the administration is uninterested in providing us with the in-person experience that we value so highly.
- These guidelines are significantly more restricted than our peer institutions. We ask for an explanation of what makes the environment at Amherst so different from similarly sized and located colleges. We ask that you reconsider our ability to attend restaurants and visit other nearby towns such as Hadley and Northampton.
At Williams, for example, vaccinated students are exempt from testing unless symptomatic for COVID-19, and do not need to wear masks outdoors or in their residence halls. Masks are only required for unvaccinated individuals or indoors during class and other academic activities. Williams students are allowed to freely engage with the community, local vendors, and restaurants. Berkshire County has similar case levels to Hampshire County. If we abide by Amherst town and Massachusetts state guidelines, traveling beyond the town of Amherst should not be greatly increasing the risk of exposure for our campus community. Smith College does not require masks outdoors, is testing vaccinated students only once a week, has a variety of dining options available including self-serve, and is not imposing any travel restrictions on their students. It is confounding that our guidelines are so different from these peer institutions.
- There is no evidence that suggests that masks should be worn outdoors by vaccinated individuals as transmission outdoors is less than 1%. We ask that you revoke the outdoor mask mandate.
The most recent COVID-19 guidelines on the CDC website (dated August 19th, 2021), states that “current data suggest the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in outdoor settings is minimal. In general, fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask outdoors. Fully vaccinated people might choose to wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings if they or someone in their household is immunocompromised.” This suggests that wearing a mask outside for vaccinated individuals is completely optional depending on their own comfort level and the size of the event. This New York Times article, entitled “A Misleading CDC Number,” puts the rate of outdoor transmission at less than 0.1%, stating that “there is not a single documented COVID-19 infection anywhere in the world from causal outdoor interaction, such as walking past someone on the street or eating at a nearby table.” As such, an outdoor mask mandate is essentially going against the science that we have observed about the transmission of COVID-19 so far.
Additionally, in terms of indoor masking, the CDC discourages double masking with two disposable masks. This is in direct conflict to the bullet point in your email that suggested double disposable, pleated face masks. The CDC website specifically tells individuals NOT to do this very thing, saying that “disposable masks are not designed to fit tightly and wearing more than one will not improve fit.”
In conclusion, this updated set of guidelines appears to be out of line with the current CDC, state, local, and peer institution standards for COVID-19 response and we demand revision and clarification. We are all students who were, at one point, excited and proud to attend Amherst College. However, with these updated regulations, lack of rationale, and shortage of student input, it is currently challenging to believe that Amherst remains committed to our full student experience, and difficult to regain the typical enthusiasm that comes with returning to campus each fall."