“Individually wrapped treats”

About “tangible inducements” to get students to wear masks at the University of Austin at Austin: I went to the source and found the details in FAQ for faculty. It’s far more complicated than bringing cookies to class:

Can instructors, departments, colleges and schools offer incentives to students to encourage masking?

Yes, although with some limitations, namely:

Positive incentives/rewards are permissible while negative consequences/ punishments are not.

Instructors can only offer non-academic incentives of a de minimis value (less than $50) per reward during a given semester.

Incentives can NOT be paid for with university/State funds.

Incentives cannot result in academic benefits to any student.

Incentives cannot result in heightened stakes creating coercion.

Incentives should be delivered outside of the classroom.

Incentives cannot result in differential treatment in the classroom between those that mask and those that do not. The following examples ARE permissible and comply with the guidance on incentives:

E.g., The instructor offers that everyone who wears a mask for two weeks of their class can stop by the courtyard to pick up a gift certificate for a free item from a nearby bakery.

E.g., The instructor offers that if the class maintains 85% masking by attendees for the next two weeks, then after the following Thursday’s class period, individually wrapped treats from a certain bakery can be picked up by every student in the courtyard (i.e., not the classroom) where all can still socially distance.

Examples of incentives that would NOT be permissible due to violating at least one of the criteria listed above include:

E.g., An instructor directs class that if all students do not mask, then the class will be taught online. (negative consequence, academic impact and heightened stakes creating coercion).

E.g., An instructor directs that any students failing to mask will not be allowed a partner on the team project. (negative consequence, academic impact, heightened stakes creating coercion).

E.g., An instructor offers that there will be no final in the class if everyone wears a mask. (Academic impact/benefit and heightened stakes creating coercion).

E.g., An instructor offers those who mask during each class meeting for the semester a 5-point increase in their final grade. (Academic impact/benefit and heightened stakes creating coercion).

If raffle-style incentives are used for masking, organizers should not collect or maintain any protected health information (e.g., vaccine records, list of vaccinated applicants).

It’s astonishing to think that several administrators, probably all making six-figure salaries, must have pooled their intelligence to develop these guidelines. Nothing half-baked here: they’ve really thought it through, even if they don’t know how to use e.g. properly.

These guidelines call for considerable diligence on the part of the faculty member, who must monitor masking (a COVID-era form of “taking attendance”), place and pay for orders, and distribute gift certificates or individually wrapped treats, but not in the classroom. Or maybe the faculty member can palm the work off on a TA. I think of the absurdity of students lining up, six feet apart, maybe in the rain, to receive their individually wrapped treats. Here ya go.

And there’s the detail that gets me: “individually wrapped treats,” presumably to assure proper hygiene, on a campus where neither masks nor vaccinations are not required.

And what’s with that reference to “a certain bakery”? Is it reasonable to suspect that at least one these guideline developers has flour on their hands?