Late-Afternoon Briefs: Masks at UMass Amherst | Police Recruit Appeals

UMass Amherst Requiring Masks In Indoor Public Spaces

Starting Wednesday, the University of Massachusetts Amherst will require students, faculty, staff, contractors and visitors to wear face-coverings in all indoor public spaces, including classrooms and the common areas of residence halls. In a Monday message to the campus community, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said the new mask requirement is "in concert with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, issued in response to the concerning Delta variant." It will be "reviewed in mid-September," he said. "This requirement follows review of the most recent scientific evidence that finds fully vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant can potentially spread the virus to others," Subbaswamy wrote. "Indoor mask wearing is particularly important to mitigate the spread from asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers who are not aware they are infectious, and when other public health measures such as social distancing are not possible." The school had previously said fully vaccinated individuals would not be required to wear masks, and that those who were not fully vaccinated would be "advised to wear face coverings in indoor settings and when they can't socially distance." UMass Amherst is among the colleges requiring its students to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and Subbaswamy said Monday that 96 percent of domestic undergraduate and graduate students are in compliance so far, along with a "great majority" of international students. The flagship UMass campus is now also requiring vaccination for faculty and staff, a move Subbaswamy said "follows agreements reached in recent days with our labor unions." A frequently asked questions page on the new mask requirement does not speak to any penalties for not wearing a face-covering. "If you notice someone without a face covering indoors, you can distance yourself or ask that they wear a mask. If you are a staff member, you may refer the situation to your supervisor," it says. - Katie Lannan/SHNS

Police Recruit Appeals Delayed Due to Funding Shortage

A lack of funding at the state Civil Service Commission creates substantial backlogs in cases and long delays in police recruits, particularly candidates of color, joining the force, an official at the agency said Monday. During a legislative discussion about barriers to civil service work in police and fire departments, Civil Service Commission General Counsel Robert Quinan said the three-member panel typically receives more than 250 appeals per year from individuals who feel they were improperly bypassed and issues about 130 subsequent decisions. In the past, Quinan said, the Commission has hired contract attorneys to help work through cases, but currently "there is no funding for that." "If it takes two years, it is because there is a backlog of well over 100 cases," Quinan said during a meeting of the Legislature's Civil Service Subcommittee, tasked with studying the civil service hiring system and related disciplinary and appeals procedures. "The result is some promising recruits effectively do get bypassed, at least for a couple of years." The commission in several instances has found that applicants of color were bypassed based on incidents from years ago and that white candidates with similar records faced no such obstacles. Sophia Hall, a supervising attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights, said during Monday's hearing that the records used to justify bypasses range from decades-old arrests that never resulted in criminal records to accumulating too many parking tickets. "(It's) an arbitrary application of rules that are fairly broad in nature and can supply a reasonable basis, perhaps, but they're just not being applied the same way to everybody," Hall said. According to data from the Mass. Budget and Policy Center, the commission's state appropriation zigzagged from $586,730 in fiscal year 2001 (about $886,150, when adjusting for inflation) down to $410,00 in FY12 (or $476,401 after inflation) and then up to $625,406 in FY22. - Chris Lisinski/SHNS

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8/9/2021