Cornell University Blames Maskless Gatherings for Student Activity Lockdown

Cornell University on Saturday blamed off-campus maskless gatherings for the cancellation of all in-person student activities, both formal and informal, on the Ithaca campus.

Upon revealing 300 hundred new cases of coronavirus, including the omicron variant, among students at the campus, Cornell took measures to lock down all in-person campus activities due to “off-campus student social gatherings where masking and other public health measures were not followed.”

Cornell is situated on a large, leafy campus on a hill overlooking the city. Cornell is considered one of the top universities in the world, with 40 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students. Photo: peterspiro / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The university told students the new lockdown also applies to those who are vaccinated, including those who have had a booster shot.

“Being vaccinated, even with a booster shot, is not a license to let down our guards,” Cornell warned, canceling all undergraduate, graduate, and professional student gatherings, including those with members of the local community.

Cornell bans all student social activity, tells them being vaccinated—plus booster!—“is not a license to” let your guard down.

Transmission-primacy has no coherent endpoint. None. And yet our institutions are incapable of pivoting. pic.twitter.com/aWqq3gmNNz

— Genève CampbeII (@bergerbell) December 13, 2021

The university also mandated harsh rules for slowing the spread of coronavirus on campus:

• Masks must be worn indoors at all times, unless in a private, non-shared space (e.g., dorm room or office); we strongly recommend masking outdoors when physical distancing is not possible.
• Use grab and go food options if available. Otherwise, try to spread out from others and do not linger. Put your mask back on as soon as you are done eating or drinking.
• When studying with others, keep group sizes small, wear masks and maintain your distance.
• Adhere to your surveillance testing schedule and take advantage of supplemental testing.

News of Cornell’s blaming maskless gatherings, despite vaccination status, drew mockery of the cancellations Monday.

“Telling students they’re prohibited from gathering violates their human right to peacefully assemble, @Cornell,” Tom Elliott tweeted. 

“Imagine paying ~$60K a year for this,” Sen. Josh Howley’s (R-MO) press secretary Abigail Marone said on her personal Twitter account.

“Meanwhile it’s hard to even find parking near Florida State at night because there are so many college students going to huge parties on frat row,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) spokeswoman Christina Pushaw stated on her personal Twitter account. “Almost everyday there’s something here. But I’m not mad. I’m happy the students in Florida get to have a social life.”

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases