COVID-19 reporting system has turned Yale campus into 'surveillance state' say students

The anonymity of Yale University's COVID-19 reporting system has led many students to feel as though campus has become a "surveillance state."

At the beginning of the pandemic, Yale University announced a set of rules students were to abide by in the interest of public safety.

Almost two years later, nearly all of the university's students and staff are fully vaccinated, however the desire to call people out for not following the rules has continued to run rampant.

The rules have included restrictions on outdoor dining, limits on outdoor gatherings, and at one point even bans on physical greetings "including handshakes, hugs, and high-fives." The one rule that has stuck from day one is the requirement that everyone must wear a mask in indoor public spaces such as classrooms and libraries.

As the Washington Free Beacon reports, students have been repeatedly called out for not wearing their masks, even when they are not in the vicinity of anyone else.

The complaints are filed anonymously via the university's reporting system.

One such case took place in early December. As the Free Beacon reports, a Yale senior was alone in a library, and decided to relax with a movie, unmasked. Not long after, another student walked in and demanded that he put his mask on, even going so far as to record him on their phone.

Two days later, the student received a notice from the school's administration declaring that his decision to not wear a mask had "failed to meet the commitments you agreed to in the Yale Community Compact."

According to the notice, the student was informed that he would be given the opportunity to give his side of the story, and that the administration would then "review the matter and decide whether [his] conduct poses a risk to the health and safety of [himself] or other community members."

Two weeks later the student received another notice, informing him that his behavior had been deemed unacceptable.

"Should you continue to engage in behavior that violates the Yale Community Compact," the notice reads, "you will be placed on Public Health Warning and may face more serious outcomes, including the removal of permission to be on campus."

According to the Free Beacon, this is not an isolated incident, and in the words of one student the increase in students' ability to report whoever they want anonymously has turned campus into a "surveillance state."

Many students have criticized the rules, which they say have failed to keep up with a world that has changed greatly since the first stage of the pandemic.

The lack of vocal opposition in Yale's campus to the measures came as consequence of the reporting system, with one student saying that a "silenced majority" of student oppose the restrictions, but fear the "shame" and "administrative consequences" of speaking out.

"I have no clue who reported me," one student, who was cited for going maskless outdoors, said. "The system has had a lot of success in keeping people scared."

The system has also seen student be reported for posts made on social media. One student was anonymously reported in early 2021 for an Instagram post taken while dining outside at a New Haven restaurant. The dinner was in violation of Yale’s ban on off-campus dining. Since there was just 12 hours left until the ban expired, the student figured it would be close enough.

Another student said that he had been walking without a mask on outside, only to discover that a person was filming from heir dorm window. The student texted Jack Barker, a senior at the university, saying that he was in violation of the rules, and "don't do it again," or else he'd be reported.

"This is too much power to put in the hands of students," the student who posted on Instagram about dining out said. "People can be petty and get classmates in trouble with standards that are changing every five minutes."