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.
Perhaps after Jim Wheaton spends 8-10 hours in 90 degree heat in direct sunlight doing physical labor he would be more tolerant of construction people and BUPD staff not wearing face coverings. There is a difference between reality and conceptualising ideas in the comfort of the air-conditioned meeting room of BU administration.
To be fair to all, I am advocating turning off all A/C in the BU buildings. It will save our the planet and bring some common sense to the never-ending and unproductive discussions that go on in BU meeting rooms.
Imagine thinking that BUPD does any physical labor comparable to the construction workers. I guess their pig mobiles are devoid of the air conditioning that you want BU to turn off
Imagine thinking that Jacob’s oily skin emitted a single beam of sweat during his privileged life. Fear not keyboard warrior, the pig-mobile drivers will always be here for you when you want to file a report for your feelings being hurt.
What do you know, Jim Wheaton Esq. is lying again LOL. This guy is a fruitcake and out of touch with reality.
The reality is that the BUPD cruisers are constantly breaking down and the AC failing
FYI this is the same Jim Wheaton who spit in the face and assaulted a security guard who did not allow him to walk through a private event held on BU Beach last year. But germs didn’t exist prior to COVID-19, right? Oh the irony!