Galen zavala-sherby (Grads), Adam Thorp (Make), Carrie Stephen (Mizzou), and Gabriel Jacob (Work) were a part of the protest in Columbia, Mo on Tuesday Oct. 19, 2021. Jacob is a part of the Coalition of Graduate Workers which wants the mandate to ensure the safety of the workers at Mizzou.
As university leaders gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the NextGen Precision Health building on Oct. 19, members of the Coalition of Graduate Workers gathered outside the building to protest MU’s announcement of the termination of the campus-wide mask mandate on Oct. 14.
The announcement was sent through an MU email stating the indoor mask mandate would end on Oct. 15. In the email, MU instead encouraged students to continue to wear masks regardless of their vaccination status in all indoor spaces.
MU spokesperson Christian Basi explained in an email that MU has been using data from a panel of medical and public health experts that have been monitoring campus and the community to make guidelines and mandates on campus since March 2020.
He also went on to address the team’s decision to end the indoor mask mandate, their rationale and recommendation for people to wear masks indoors and get vaccinated through MU Healthcare.
“Over the past several weeks, this team tracked the various data points and came to the conclusion that it would be OK to allow the mask mandate to expire and continue with recommending or asking people to mask when indoors, no matter what their vaccination status might be,” Basi said in an email.
The Coalition of Graduate Workers, which, according to their website, “represents the workforce of Graduate Teaching and Research Assistants at the University of Missouri,” rallied against this decision as dozens of protestors stood on the sidewalk facing the NextGen building, all wearing red. The coalition’s Outreach Officer Mike Olson said they wore red because it’s the color of the labor movement.
“It’s been [red] for over 150 years, and we are following in the proud tradition of labor unions that have gone before us,” Olson said.
Olson said the goal of the protest was to call attention to the ending of the mask mandate and the effects it could have on vulnerable people.
The coalition handed out pamphlets detailing the organization’s concerns over MU’s decision to end the mask mandate.
“We are concerned for the many graduate workers who cannot be socially distanced in their workplace because they work in labs or classrooms that require close interaction with students,” the pamphlet stated.
The pamphlet also included immunocompromised coworkers, graduate students with children that can’t get vaccinated and colleagues who have family members vulnerable to COVID-19.
Standing with fellow protestors, Drew Amidei, the co-chair of graduate workers chanted, “What do we want?” Other protesters responded together, “mask mandates!”
Amidei said he did not expect the sudden change, explaining that the mask mandate is a work-safety issue, and that many coalition members and colleagues have compromised immune systems and can’t be vaccinated.
“These individuals really need the community to keep them safe,” Amidei said. “To drop the mandate in the middle of the semester … is a terrible insult and shows that the administration and Board of Curators fundamentally do not care about the health and safety of the workers and their families.”
Rana Kennedy, a biology teacher and research assistant, was one of the protesters. She said that her job involved teaching three discussion sections in overcrowded classroms making her feel unsafe, saying that she is a high-risk individual for COVID-19 infections despite the fact she’s vaccinated.
On Sept. 23, the Faculty Council published a survey showing that out of a pool of over 1,000 participants, 76% of faculty and staff were concerned about being exposed to COVID-19, with 72% supporting that “everyone wear face coverings meeting current campus standards in any indoor public space on campus.”
The Faculty Council passed a resolution asking for the extension of the mask mandate. The Council chair Kate Trauth explained that while the resolution was sent to the MU administration, the decision fell upon the Board of Curators, who ultimately decided not to extend the mask mandate.
Kennedy said this decision makes her feel like her voice doesn’t matter to MU.
“I don’t feel like we are cared about,” Kennedy said. “I’ve been here for six years, and every single year they show our health doesn’t matter.”
Amidei said this is not the first time the coalition and MU have clashed, citing a 2015 dispute regarding health insurance being revoked for graduate students, a decision MU later reversed.
In 2019 legal battle between the coalition and MU occured, which recognized graduate workers as employees and ordered MU to recognize and collectively bargain with the coalition.
Amidei said he considers all of these battles, victories and hopes for a similar result regarding the mask mandate.
“This is the beginning of a campaign,” Amidei said. “I’m sure it’ll be long and hard fought, but I’m sure we’ll win.”
For more information about the organization, contact the Coalition of Graduate Workers at organizemizzou@gmail.com.
Edited by Namratha Prasad | nprasad@themaneater.com