Students and staff share their thoughts on the current Santa Monica College masking requirements.

Professor Aric Martin (Right) talks to his musical theatre student Ayinde Ross (Left) on Monday, October 10 at Santa Monica College (SMC), Santa Monica, Calif. All SMC students and faculty are required to wear masks indoors. (Tyler Simms | The Corsair)

Almost three years after the COVID-19 outbreak, students and staff have mixed feelings about the ongoing mask mandate at Santa Monica College (SMC).

As of the fall 2022 semester, SMC requires that students continue to wear masks indoors or within 6 feet of others. While vaccination is no longer mandatory, students are encouraged to monitor their symptoms daily.

“I don't mind wearing a mask,” SMC sophomore Aamna Munnee said. “I feel more comfortable wearing it, especially now that people have ‘moved on’ from Covid in a sense so they are less cautious. In terms of a small classroom I prefer wearing a mask just to be safe.”

On Jan. 20, 2020, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19. At first, nearly everyone wanted to carry a mask with them whether or not it was required. The outbreak created an uneasy feeling and made mask-carrying essential. Over the course of several months, schools conducted classes via online platforms and the protocol was simply ‘wearing your mask when leaving the house'.

As students gradually returned to campus, the mandates for mask requirements became a little more complex. At this point in time, the official instructions about masks were being decided by confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the state. As those numbers were noticeably fluctuating, so was the complicated enforcement on campuses around the world.

SMC sophomore Andrew Langrudi doesn’t particularly mind wearing masks, but would prefer not to wear them at school.

“Personally, I like to not wear masks in the classroom as it covers half my face which doesn't allow true face-to-face teaching,” Langrudi said. “I'd rather see my teacher smile or make facial expressions along with other students in the class."

There are certain protocols that must be followed on school campuses. Although, within the classrooms on any campus, lies the opinion of the professor about the required masks. Statistics professor Safaa Dabagh’s opinion is built upon her family's multiple encounters with the virus. She has a mutual understanding of the mandate but allows her students and herself to have the utmost freedom.

“I don't enforce it, whoever wants to wear it can wear it and whoever doesn’t want to wear it doesn't have to. It should not be enforced and it should be a choice,” she said. “It's just my responsibility to make sure if me or my children are sick, we stay home and not transmit any sickness to anyone else.”

The continuation of the school masking policy is currently being reviewed by the SMC Safety & Risk Management team.

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