A finger in the dike

Finally, a resolution to our very fluid mask policy! Shortly after I posted yesterday, the Powers That Be issued a mandate requiring that masks be worn inside buildings on campus, starting today. This will replace the official [INSERT POLICY HERE] policy, which is a tremendous relief. A uniform mask policy will be less confusing and easier to enforce than a patchwork of separate policies differing across departments.

Like many professors, I'm glad I'm not at the University of Iowa right now, where the administration tried to prohibit faculty from even talking about masks or vaccines with students (read it here). According to Inside Higher Ed, the original order "said instructors 'may only make statements regarding mask usage or vaccinations in the context of course material discussions of health-related issues.'" If staying alive during a pandemic is not a health-related issue, I don't know what is.

In other teaching-related news, I finally found some new teaching shoes. They're ugly as sin, well deserving the term clodhoppers, but I ought to be able to stand up in them through four classes without massive foot and ankle pain. Gone are the days of cute teaching shoes! I'd rather be sensible than suffering.  

But maybe I can make up for it with some cute masks. The new mask policy is a finger in the dike of a very fluid situation, but until this flood dries up for good, I'm going shopping. 

Clodhoppers. Not cute.