In the wake of the spring’s violent campus protests, state and local politicians from both sides of the aisle have considered cracking down on face coverings, once required in all classrooms.

Officials in Los Angeles and New York have recently floated the idea of banning masks in their cities, attempting to deter violent protesters who, lawmakers say, often wore coverings to conceal their identities. At universities across the nation, masked demonstrators opposed to the Israel-Hamas war chanted and set up tent communities, often leading to violent police confrontations at schools including Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles.