Thread by @WeedenKim

Unis planning in-person or hybrid terms don't want to go all-in on formal surveillance and policing to enforce behavioral expectations or rules. Instead, they are putting faith in informal social control (usually framed benignly as norms) and community or self-"policing." 🧵1/9

I get it. Few faculty, staff, or students want campuses to be mini-police states where a mask violation turns into an interaction b/n campus police & violator. Most understand that this sets stage for abuse, both by police and by community members thru false reports. 2/9

Particularly in this social moment, universities also understand that formal policing of mask policies is likely to be uneven, with Black, Brown, indigenous, LGBTQ, and other historically marginalized communities subject to policing more often given same behavior. 3/9

So far, so good. But, I think there's been much less discussion of the power dynamics embedded in *informal* social control and community or self-policing. It's naive to think those power dynamics don't exist, and unwise to ignore them in campus reopening plans. 4/9

A tenured prof can tell students to wear masks or get out of class w/ far less risk of negative career consequences than an untenured or non-TT prof.

A junior male prof also risks fewer negative consequences than a junior woman. (Read any student evaluations of teaching?) 5/9

Similar power dynamics also play out among students.

A female student who tells male students to wear their masks is putting herself at far greater risk for negative consequences (social or even physical) than the reverse. 6/9

There are also status (and race and gender) differences in who has the influence to define local norms in the first place.

Unis can print all the posters they want but if the "cool kids" aren't wearing masks or distancing, good luck establishing these behaviors as the norm. 7/9

Some unis have tried to get ahead of this problem by featuring high-status students in their marketing campaigns. It's a good idea, but it remains to be seen if this will be effective. 8/9

Unis should also be thinking proactively about the differential power problem among faculty & staff on the front lines, i.e., those expected to do the bulk of the "community policing" of student behaviors in classrooms and in public spaces.

(Or, just go on-line in fall.)
9/9