A Tufts University graduate student was placed on leave from WMFO, the university's student-run radio station, by administration, for failing to wear a mask, allowing guests into the studio, covering up a security camera and tampering with studio equipment during a Nov. 8 radio show. During their show, the student shared misinformation about COVID-19 and questioned the efficacy of mask-wearing, vaccines and booster shots.
Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, emphasized that the student was suspended specifically for their COVID-19 policy violations, not because of the content of their show.
“[The student] was placed on leave from [their] unpaid, volunteer DJ position at the radio station not because of the content of [their] show but because [the student] violated multiple COVID safety protocols at the station and tampered with equipment in an attempt to evade detection,” Collins said in a statement to the Daily.
Collins explained how the university's COVID-19 policies apply to WMFO.
“WMFO, an undergraduate student-run radio station funded by the undergraduate student activity fee and used by both students and community members, is subject to all of the same COVID policies that are in place for the rest of the University, including … wearing masks indoors when in communal settings,” Collins said.
Collins further described WMFO's other precautions in place.
“In addition to these universal campus guidelines, the radio station also requires further safety protocols, including the prohibition of guests in the station due to the inability of the station’s student staff to monitor guests’ compliance with Tufts policies," Collins said.
According to Collins, all WMFO DJs are briefed on the station’s COVID-19 protocols, including the mask and guest policies. These policies are also communicated to DJs and during WMFO all-staff meetings.
The student DJed their hour-long Nov. 8 radio show, “New Music Exclusives,” under the name HH. It was their second-ever broadcast with WMFO. They did not identify themselves or their two guests by name during the show. After playing one song, the student and their guests spent the next hour sharing misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccines and booster shots.
The student agreed to speak to the Daily on the condition of anonymity, identifying themself only as a master's student in the School of Engineering. In an interview with the Daily, they said they believed that they were penalized too harshly for not wearing a mask.
“From what I've seen, there's many people in the buildings that have cafes and the student center that are always not wearing masks," they said. "So it seems kind of [like] a double standard or selective enforcement scenario."
The student also justified their decision to cover up the studio’s security camera.
“I did it purely because in my own house and in life, you are not surveilled,” the student said. “You're more able to be comfortable and speak your mind when you are not being watched.”
During their Nov. 8 radio show, in an interview with the Daily and in emails to the Daily, the student compared the people who reported them to WMFO for their COVID-19 policy infractions to Nazis and criticized Tufts’ continuation of its mask policy.
“The people who report on others who are not wearing masks ‘correctly’ are not exactly the same as Nazis, but they do share the same characteristics, namely of insecurity in their personality and the willingness to blindly follow amorphous authority in order to appease that insecurity by ‘fitting in’ somewhere,” they wrote in an email to the Daily.
The student shared their belief on mask effectiveness against COVID-19 in a subsequent email to the Daily.
“Everyone knows masks don’t matter when it comes to virus spread,” the student wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conclude that facial coverings substantially reduce the coronavirus' infection rate.
University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan offered scientific evidence for why mask-wearing remains important in a written statement to the Daily. Jordan wrote the statement in response to questions from the Daily, not in response to the student’s WMFO broadcast specifically, which he had not listened to.
“A recently published systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Medical Journal confirms that the wearing of a mask when indoors or near others significantly decreases transmission and acquisition of COVID-19,” Jordan said in the statement to the Daily. “In addition, mask wearing blocks transmission of influenza and viruses that cause seasonal colds … With the increasing prevalence of COVID-19 cases across the United States and the Commonwealth, the wearing of masks as a preventative measure remains absolutely critical.”
During the Nov. 8 radio show, one of the student’s guests advocated against vaccination, particularly for children.
“No one should get [the COVID-19 vaccine] but children definitely should not,” the unidentified guest said, going on to suggest that vaccinating infants makes them more susceptible to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
However, the CDC has found no link between vaccination and SIDS and is also not currently recommending that infants be vaccinated against COVID-19. Jordan shared the CDC’s most recent guidance on vaccinating children against COVID-19 with the Daily.
“The CDC has recommended vaccination for children ages 5-11 as well as adolescents to protect them from getting COVID-19 and reducing their risk of severe disease, hospitalizations, and long-term COVID-19 complications,” Jordan said. “Vaccination of children will also protect adult members of the household and will help, in the long run, to lead to a sustained reduction in incident cases and critical COVID-19 related illness in the community.”
John Wescott, associate director for campus life and WMFO staff advisor, emailed the student on Nov. 12, informing them that their access to WMFO’s station in Curtis Hall had been revoked for the remainder of the semester.
“I would have certainly worn a mask the next time if I knew how severe and strict they were about it,” the student said during an interview with the Daily.
Later, in an email to the Daily, the student said that their placement on leave was an act of censorship and violated their right to free speech.
Collins confirmed to the Daily that the student has been placed on leave from WMFO for the remainder of the fall semester.
