Faculty leaders at Iowa State press board to allow them to require masks

Faculty leaders at Iowa State University this week met with the Iowa Board of Regents in hopes of convincing it to allow masks to be required in university classrooms.

According to the Des Moines Register, regents met for committee hearings on Wednesday and a board meeting on Thursday, while showing little evidence that they would approve the request of staff members.

Iowa State’s faculty senate pressed the issue anyway, with president Andrea Wheeler arguing during public comments that masks should be mandated in classrooms “for pedagogical and health reasons,” the Register reported.

An Iowa law banning local governments and school districts from enacting mask mandates was temporarily blocked by a federal court earlier this week, but it does not apply to public universities in the state.

In May, a regents’ policy was issued that stated masks would not be required on college campuses. Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa have all since followed the policy, the news outlet noted.

Regents could legally decide to reverse the policy, allowing masks to be mandated.