The Boston University Police Department. The BUPD hosted International Student Safety Awareness Day in the GSU lobby Wednesday. PHOTO BY NATALIE CARROLL/ DFP FILE PHOTO
Boston University is requiring all students, faculty and staff wear facial coverings in public to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. Recently, however, complaints have surfaced against BU Police Department officers and campus construction workers who have not complied with this mandate.
BUPD officers and workers for construction projects on campus are not exempt from the University’s facial covering mandate.
Jim Wheaton, clinical associate professor at BU’s School of Law, said he has filed complaints to the precinct after seeing BUPD officers not wearing masks on multiple occasions.
“I encountered an officer on Comm. Ave. who wouldn’t wear a mask, even when I asked,” Wheaton said. “Then in their own precinct where the sign says ‘everyone must wear a mask,’ their own officer who was taking the report from me wasn’t wearing a mask.”
Wheaton added that the non-compliance rejects the public safety guidelines the University has been promoting.
“It’s alarming. The University is trying to send this message that we’re creating this incredibly safe environment,” Wheaton said. “And yet they’re not masking.”
Deputy Chief Robert Malloy said that after receiving a complaint, BUPD is verifying the facts of the situation and will proceed with the case if necessary.
“I have received a complaint from an employee at BU about officers that weren’t complying about mask-wearing,” Malloy said.
No further action can be taken until BUPD examines the case, Malloy said. He added that all BUPD officers are required to follow the University’s facial covering mandate.
Wheaton said he has also seen construction workers not complying with the policy for the two projects currently occurring on Commonwealth Avenue.
While the Center for Computing and Data Sciences is a BU-controlled project, ongoing construction in Kenmore Square under developer Related Beal is not operated by the University.
But Wheaton said that although construction workers there are part of a private construction company, they are still present among the rest of the BU community on campus.
“I don’t think the University administration is thinking about that construction project as part of the overall community that ought to be within the whole testing and safety regime,” Wheaton said.
BU Campus Planning and Operations did not respond to a request for comment.