Lawmakers reconsider mask bans after spring campus protests

In the wake of the spring’s violent campus protests, state and local politicians from both sides of the aisle have considered cracking down on face coverings, once required in all classrooms.

Officials in Los Angeles and New York have recently floated the idea of banning masks in their cities, attempting to deter violent protesters who, lawmakers say, often wore coverings to conceal their identities. At universities across the nation, masked demonstrators opposed to the Israel-Hamas war chanted and set up tent communities, often leading to violent police confrontations at schools including Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

In June, North Carolina Republicans approved restrictions on wearing masks in public after 30 people from an encampment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were arrested, many of them masked. In January, Philadelphia barred ski masks in public spaces, hoping to curb violent crime.

In New York, Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and Mayor Eric Adams, expressed their support for a mask ban after anti-war protesters piled into a subway car and warned Zionists to exit their seats and return to the station.

“We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said during a June press conference.

Shortly after, a clash between protesters and counterprotesters outside a Los Angeles synagogue led Democratic Mayor Karen Bass to consider exploring mask restrictions. She did not propose any specific legislation.

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Many of these advocates for mask restrictions had supported public mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite an uptick in cases this summer, the focus has turned away from viral protection and toward mitigating violence.

Martin Luther King Jr. “did not hide his face when he marched and for the things he thought were wrong in the country,” Adams said, invoking the beloved nonviolent demonstrator. “Those civil rights leaders did not hide their faces. They stood up.”