Students at Amherst College are rejecting a slew of COVID-19 policies, including double-masking and semiweekly testing requirements.
More than 400 students reportedly sent a letter to the school’s administration protesting the policies, saying they were far stricter than other academic institutions.
“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,” the students wrote in the letter. “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.”
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“Masks are only required for unvaccinated individuals or indoors during class and other academic activities,” the letter added. “Williams students are allowed to freely engage with the community, local vendors, and restaurants.”
Additionally, Amherst’s policies are out of line with the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the students noted.
“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,'” the letter reads. “Fully vaccinated people might choose to wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings if they or someone in their household is immunocompromised.”
“An outdoor mask mandate is essentially going against the science that we have observed about the transmission of COVID-19 so far,” it continued.
In response, the school relaxed one of its policies, now allowing people to go maskless outdoors. However, it kept the other policies in place.
“At two universities with summer terms, 80% of the positive cases involved vaccinated students who were also symptomatic, though not seriously so, and many of those cases of infection occurred in the context of dining — in dining halls, residence hall lounges with too many students, and restaurants,” the school’s president wrote in defense of the remaining policies.
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Amherst enforces a vaccine mandate for all students, allowing exceptions only for medical and religious reasons, according to the school’s website. Students must get their second dose at least two weeks prior to the start of classes. They must wear KN95 masks or double-mask while indoors.
“Either a KN95 mask or doubled (two masks on top of one another) disposable, pleated, filter face masks must be worn at all times in classrooms and other academic spaces that are operating at 100% capacity,” the school said.
Additionally, the school mandates students to undergo coronavirus testing twice a week and restricts their travel, barring visits to off-campus restaurant establishments and other crowded public spaces during business hours.
“We will limit students’ off-campus travel through September 13,” Amherst’s website stated. “Students may visit the town of Amherst, masked when indoors, in order to conduct business (opening bank accounts, picking up prescriptions, etc.) during regular business hours, but may not go to restaurants or bars.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Amherst for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
