University of Alberta Students' Union disappointed by decision to drop mask mandate

Students and staff at the University of Alberta will no longer be mandated to wear masks starting March 16.

Students and staff at the University of Alberta will no longer be mandated to wear masks starting March 16.

While university administration still recommends masks, many students are not comfortable with the change, and it's something the Students' Union plans to fight.

Rowan Ley, president of the Students' Union, says they polled nearly 2,000 students on the issue, with 61 per cent indicating they would prefer mandatory masks until the end of the semester.

"You can choose not to go to a gym or not to go to a cafeteria where people are unmasked," Ley told CTV News Edmonton.

"But you have to go to crowded classrooms and lecture halls as a university student, so it's not fair to make people who might justifiably be uncomfortable go into a crowded space with lots of unmasked people."

When in-person classes resumed on Feb. 28, the university signalled it would maintain mandatory masking for the "immediate future."

Ley said the Students' Union made KN95 masks available to students, with 3,000 given out this past week.