Face coverings are required in all Arkansas Tech University facilities until further notice.
The only exception is for faculty and staff members who are alone, in their office and with the door closed. Otherwise, any individual in any ATU building is required to wear a face covering.
“This revised policy removes any ambiguity and is another step in our commitment to limit the spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Robin E. Bowen, ATU president. “Widespread scientific evidence clearly states that face coverings are an essential aspect of any pandemic mitigation strategy. As a university that is committed to data-driven decisions, expanding the face covering requirement is consistent with our institutional ethos. It’s also the right thing to do as we work to protect not only ourselves, but each other.”
Students who do not comply with the face coverings policy will be subject to appropriate student conduct procedures as described in the student handbook. The ATU COVID-19 task force and the ATU Office of Human Resources are working with the ATU Faculty Senate and the ATU Staff Senate to finalize procedure recommendations for any cases of ATU employee non-compliance that might occur. These procedures will be consistent with existing handbooks for faculty and staff, and they will be communicated to the university community as soon as they are finalized.
“I believe in our collective will to create and maintain a safe learning and working environment,” said Bowen. “The development of non-compliance procedures is an indication of how seriously the university is approaching this issue and how important we believe face coverings will be in limiting the spread of the virus within our university community.”
Visit www.atu.edu/pandemicrecovery for more information about ATU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
