Leah Deskins ‘21
Professor Liaison Editor
With contributions from Michael Berdan ‘22
In Defense of Non-Compliance Reporting
This summer, the University sent a survey to graduate-level students asking, among other things, whether we would be willing to encourage compliance with public health measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the event that we witnessed behavior that did not comply with those measures. Admittedly, this question was probably geared toward graduate students serving as teaching assistants and in positions commanding some authority over undergraduates. I nonetheless worried that the Law School would potentially put a burden on students to police compliance with the University’s public health measures. It is one thing to command one 1L to wear a mask, but that huge group of students (1Ls or otherwise)? They’re not going to listen.
Naturally, I was relieved to hear about the University’s COVID-19 noncompliance reporting tool. Administrators would deal with noncompliant students. Great. However, I recently found out that not everyone shares my view. Specifically, not everyone shares my view that students shouldn’t have to confront blatantly noncompliant students before potentially submitting a noncompliance report.[1]
I respect that others may not see the world the same way I do. Healthy debate is a good thing—and if you, one person, feel comfortable going up to a group of twenty-five unmasked, not socially-distant strangers (or not strangers, they could be people you know, too) hanging out and blatantly ignoring the rules, and if you feel comfortable asking them to kindly comply with the University’s public health measures, that’s wonderful. But not every student is comfortable with that. And think about this scenario: If students are engaging in that kind of behavior, they know they’re not complying with the University’s public health measures, and they are already aware of the possibility that they could be reported. Given the extensive and repeated warnings, guidance, and explanation we have been given from University and Law School administrators—not to mention having lived in this pandemic world for the past six months and having common sense—we can all recognize when behavior is clearly, obviously wrong. I'm not talking about close calls: questions of mask material, five-and-a-half feet, or sixteen people at a gathering. I'm talking about large groups of people, without masks, within arm's reach. This is no-brainer noncompliance.
I’ve tried to be safe these last six months because I want to protect the people I care about and my community more broadly, and I don’t want to contribute to any further dragging out that this pandemic has up its sleeve. And I don’t think that we all have to be perfect in practicing good public health habits. We’re all human, after all, and accidents happen. But as adults, we should be accountable to ourselves and our colleagues to follow the most essential rules the best we can. If you feel comfortable going up to any noncompliant folks you see and asking them to adhere to University rules, do so. If you don’t, be mindful of what they’re doing that’s noncompliant, give the benefit of the doubt as much as is reasonable, and make an assessment for yourself about whether you want to submit a noncompliance report. The University is doing the right thing by allowing us to choose how we encourage others to keep our community safe and healthy, and any well-intentioned efforts by students toward that end should be supported.
Drew Calamaro ‘21
Satire Editor
Don’t Be a Snitch
Throughout this column, I use the term “snitch” to refer to people who report others on the online portal for breaking the university’s COVID-19 rules. If you report others through this portal, you are, in fact, a snitch. Either own the fact that you are a snitch, or don’t snitch on people, and you won’t be called one.[2]
1. Direct confrontation will always provide more utility to the community than a drawn-out process of reporting to the UJC.
From a utilitarian standpoint, reporting people’s actions to the UJC has zero effect on COVID-19 spread. If the behavior is that bad, then put a mask on, and confront the people transgressing on what you believe to be the rules. Why do this, you ask? Well, for one, you can probably do so safely, since most of the time you are likely reporting the behavior that is directly in front of you. Wearing a mask and standing at a safe distance doesn’t mean you can’t shout. Furthermore, if you think that the behavior is so terrible that it’s worth reporting, maybe you should try to stop it right then and there. Stop the activity, and you stop the spread; that means one less way for you to contract COVID-19.
Contrast this with reporting to the UJC. You are relying on a largely undergrad-run organization to read your report and follow up post-hoc. The people you have reported have already gone into their respective communities, where they have likely spread COVID-19 to the people they are living with. While you could have helped #stopthespread right there through direct intervention, you instead chose to hide behind a phone screen and report others. Whether this shows an utter lack of moral fortitude and lack of conviction in what you are actually doing, I will leave to others to judge.[3] However—and I reiterate—if this behavior is so bad that you think it’s reportable, then confront it, and make a true effort to stop it before it harms people. Exposure and time matters, and if you can stop a gathering from going on longer than it should, then that is a win.
2. Punitive thought processes should not rule the day in a community.
One thing that I think many can agree on is that, despite acting stupidly, we do not want to see anyone develop COVID-19. We know that around 1 percent of individuals under the age of thirty who contract COVID-19 may also develop long-term illness as a result.[4] We also know that COVID-19 causes significant heart damage, which could require lifelong monitoring in anyone, even in children. Are the “rule-breakers” really so bad that they don’t deserve to be reminded of these potential health issues? The answer, of course, is no. For God’s sake, or humanity’s sake, go tell them to stop what they are doing if you think it’s that bad. Just because, in your mind, they don’t value human life, doesn’t mean you get to stop as well. You are a law student—go talk to someone, understand what is going on, get the facts, and then tell them what the rules are.
Those who choose to hide behind screens may find this to be an odd way of thinking. But there are more important things than just being morally right. There are more important things than saying to yourself, “I won’t give them the benefit of the doubt because of X.” There are real lives at stake, not just the rulebreakers’, but their roommates’, their family’s, and yours. Put the phone down, go up to them, and stop the behavior. If you love your fellow humans, do that. And have the guts to tell them in person that you’re reporting them if they don’t stop.
3. You have also broken the rules.
In the Gospel of John, the Pharisees[5] brought a woman before Jesus who had committed adultery. They told him, “This woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” Jesus took some time, bent down to write on the ground,[6] stood back up and said, “Let he who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” The Pharisees all left, one by one, beginning with the older ones, until Jesus was left alone with the woman. He tells her at the end that he does not condemn her, but that she should “go, and from now on sin no more.”
This dramatic scene is literally life and death. And I am sure the pro-snitching side feels the same about COVID-19. However, unless and until you report yourself for all of your violations, you should not snitch on others who you think may be breaking the rules. Otherwise, you are a Pharisee. Have you ridden in a car with someone you are not living with without wearing a mask? Have you had a visitor over to your apartment for more than ten minutes, and not worn a mask? Then you have broken the rules. Report yourself. Or ask someone else to report you. My point is, at some point, you, too, have broken the rules.
I have yet to find a single person who has both snitched on others and who has reported themselves for their own violations. In speaking to pro-snitches, I am struck by their lack of self-awareness. They are able to justify every “minor” violation they accrue, but when it comes to a group of people gathered outside, that is a big deal. So far, most of the violations that I have heard reported have been outdoor activities. Never mind the fact that you are twenty times more likely to catch coronavirus indoors than outdoors,[7] any large outdoor group is now totally subject to snitching by people who do not believe they have broken any rules worth reporting themselves. My point with all of this is that snitching breaks down a community, it rewards nameless and faceless reporting, and doesn’t actually stop bad behavior at the root. It simply drives it into the shadows. Have a backbone, be utterly and completely morally righteous, and go stop it where you see it. Otherwise, just carry on with your life, stop worrying about others’ behavior, and start worrying about yourself.
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lcd4ew@virginia.edu
mwb4pk@virginia.edu
dac6jk@virginia.edu
[1] The University has indicated that it would like students to encourage other students to comply with the public health measures in the event that they see their peers behaving in ways that are noncompliant. However, the University does not require students to confront their peers about noncompliance.
[2] Judas owned it. That’s why Dante put him in the literal mouth of Satan in the Ninth Circle of Hell in the Inferno.
[3] I am the others. I am footnote-Drew. I judge that it does.
[4] Derek Thompson, What Young, Healthy People Have to Fear From COVID-19, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/what-young-healthy-people-have-fear-covid-19/616087/.
[5] Hypocritical religious teachers.
[6] Probably cramming for a final.
[7] Hiroshi Nishiura et al., Closed environments facilitate secondary transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.28.20029272v2.