Missouri State University President Clif Smart has announced that beginning Monday, February 21, masks will no longer be required on the majority of the MSU campus.
Smart first proposed the idea at a meeting January 28 of doing away with the mandate in mid-February, as long as COVID-19 cases in Springfield and Greene County continued to decline.
Smart was also ushered forward in his decision to halt that mask mandate from newly introduced Board of Governors member Jay Wasson. Wasson is the former mayor of Nixa and is currently running for Congress in Missouri’s 7th District. Once becoming a member, Wasson began corresponding with Smart to end the mandate, and on January 14th informed the university president he intended to file the motion himself.
Upon hearing that Smart is rolling back the mask requirement, Wasson said, “President Smart, thank you for being responsive to my call to end the mask mandate, for following the science as it has evolved during this pandemic, and for valuing the importance of individual liberty and personal responsibility. I also want to applaud your leadership that has kept this university open and on mission even as others chose to shut down.”