As the 2021-2022 academic year approaches, BYU officials are discussing possible COVID-19 protocol for the fall semester. Although many students seem less concerned about the disease, the recent rise in cases and low vaccination rates in Utah have school administrators worried. In light of the situation, the BYU Honor Code Office has offered a compromise: students wearing masks can show more leg.

One of the roles of the Honor Code Office (HCO) is to enforce a standard of dress and grooming on campus. This includes regulating the amount of skin students are allowed to show and where.

As Tanner Bennion, an HCO employee, pointed out, face masks cover a large portion of skin, rendering an outfit automatically more modest. “We’re really just concerned about maintaining a certain percentage of skin coverage,” he said. “More fabric on your face means you can get away with less somewhere else.”

So far, the proposition has received mixed responses from BYU students. One student tweeted, “BYU can control what we wear below the neck, but not above it. Requiring masks would be crossing the line.” Another student said, “After Zoom classes, it’s going to be a hard adjustment to wear pants at all, let alone shorts that go to my knees. Wearing a mask sounds easier.”