With four weeks of the semester successfully under our belts, the Syracuse University community has become well adjusted to the return of in-person classes. SU is still at the “RED” COVID-19 level, indicating a high level of transmission risk and requiring people on campus to wear masks indoors at all times and outdoors in the presence of others regardless of vaccination status. While students and professors are compliant within an academic setting, masks are not heavily enforced at many other activities and events that students engage in. 

Approximately 98% of students on campus are fully vaccinated. Faculty and staff self-attested their vaccination status, with about 95% of faculty and benefits-eligible staff saying they are vaccinated. Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie’s most recent email reads, “Our active COVID cases have declined significantly (44 as of Sept. 27) and the positivity rate among those tested via our random surveillance testing program over the past week is less than .5%.” 

With these statistics in mind, many people may be less inclined to wear masks at non-academic events, and the lack of enforcement of masks at these events only perpetuates the cyclical pattern of COVID-19 spreading on campus.

Rosie Daly, a junior political science major, says she feels safe with the current mask mandate, but oftentimes doesn’t see active implementation of the mandate. “I think that the mandate of wearing a mask indoors and outdoors even for vaccinated students makes me feel safe, but sometimes the enforcement doesn’t follow through. I have seen students not wearing masks or wearing them incorrectly in class without repercussions.”

While football games require that attendees show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test prior to entering the Carrier Dome, Daly said the mask enforcement was noticeably lacking. “I’ve only been to one football game, and honestly I was scared and I don’t think I’m going to another,” she said.

“Even though you are told masks will be required in the Dome, or they say it on the loudspeaker, my friends and I were the only people I saw with masks on,” Daly said. “Actually, during the game a girl not wearing a mask came up to my friends and me to tell us how shocked and proud she was that we wore our masks the whole game.”

Ellie Wilson, a junior public relations major, had similar experiences at SU football games. “When I’m at football games, I feel like the vast majority of people either have no mask or are wearing it incorrectly. I have seen (the Department of Public Safety) and the other people working at the stadium go after people for standing on the bleachers, but I have never seen them call anyone out for not wearing a mask.”

While Wilson and Daly wish there was stricter mask enforcement at events, they do feel a little better this semester in knowing that most students are vaccinated.

“Honestly, I always just go into events expecting that my friends and I will be some of the only people masked but I am vaccinated and know that most students on this campus are, so I have partly accepted that risk,” Wilson said.

Although SU’s administration has been doing its part to implement mask mandates, the execution is lacking. Cases are on the decline for now, but if the university continues to fail to enforce masks at superspreader events, such as football games, the number of positive test results could change in only a matter of time.

“I think it is a personal responsibility for each person to do their part, but there is also a responsibility on the part of the university to hold people accountable,” Wilson said.

SU should encourage DPS and event staff to start actively enforcing mask mandates. The university should also hire more staff to monitor students and guests’ adherence to these rules at events where transmission is most likely, such as SU football games.

Charlotte Kho is a junior magazine, news & digital journalism major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at ckho01@syr.edu.

Published on October 5, 2021 at 10:05 pm