Hofstra President Tests Positive for COVID-19 as Mask Mandate Lifted, Campus Cases Spike
By: Sarah Emily Baum, Amudalat Ajasa, Nell Stultz and Tyler Mroczek
(April 14, 2022) — Hofstra University president Susan Poser tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, April 3, according to a speech made by Vice President Alan Kelly at a closed event for student scholarship winners and donors. The news comes as students and administrators sound the alarm about Poser’s COVID-19 policies -- or lack thereof -- in the recent weeks.
Four students present for the comments, which occurred at the annual Scholarship and Donor Luncheon on Wednesday, April 6, confirmed the incident to The Clocktower. The students only agreed to speak to reporters on the grounds of anonymity.
“I had this moment of like, ‘If she’s got COVID, should we be sitting here, maskless, in a room full of people?’” said one student at the luncheon. “They required vaccination cards [for the event] but it was one of the largest crowds I’ve seen since COVID, and there were a lot of non-Hofstra guests.”
Karla Schuster, vice president of the Office of University Relations, confirmed that Poser had tested positive. She added that Poser only had a mild case, isolated and worked from home and followed all public health protocols. “University officials also announced her diagnosis at campus events she had been scheduled to attend,” Schuster said.
An anonymous member of Hofstra’s administration told The Clocktower that Poser’s COVID-19 policies, and positive test result, have been causing tension. The administrator requested anonymity, citing possible risks to their employment if they spoke publicly. “There were so many engagements [Poser] had to cancel because she had COVID,” they said. “But it’s not changing any policies and it’s a problem. They aren’t even accommodating students who want to work from home.”
PHOTO: President Susan Poser and other Hofstra administrators and faculty at a March 29 event.
All Hofstra employees and students must be vaccinated to be on campus. Quarantine housing is offered to students who test positive, and surveillance testing is performed on 15% of students each week. However, on March 7, Hofstra’s mask mandate was lifted, following suit with New York State’s elimination of mask requirements in schools.
In response to inquiries about the status of high-risk Hofstra students and professors, University Relations referred reporters back to the school’s initial statement announcing the end of the mandate. “In deciding whether to similarly update the Hofstra masking guidelines, we depend, as we always have, on the science - the advice of our partners at Northwell along with state and federal guidance. All of these sources are now pointing in the same direction,” it said.
Cases at Hofstra have since spiked in tandem with cases across the region. Over 43% of all cases since the start of the semester have occurred in the last two weeks, and the week of Friday, April 8, saw the highest rates of positive tests at Hofstra since the start of 2022. There were 26 total positives, resulting in a campus positivity rate of 3.056%.
On Monday, April 11, while Poser was in quarantine for COVID-19 herself, she sent an email to the student body addressing this increase. “As we near the end of the semester, catching COVID could interfere with end of year activities, exams, and commencement,” she wrote. “We are not changing any of the current COVID protocols on campus, only suggesting that you continue good hand hygiene and consider wearing your mask in some circumstances as you interact with others, particularly when you do not know their vaccination status.”
Despite urging students to consider wearing a mask, Poser has been extensively photographed doing the opposite over the last month at university functions. On March 18, Poser tweeted photos from a Zucker School of Medicine event for Match Day -- in which medical students celebrate their residency placements -- showing an event packed with people and very few masks in sight. And on March 29, Poser tweeted a picture of her and top university officials and faculty -- all without masks.
PHOTO: Susan Poser tweets from a Medical School event. Few people are wearing masks.
As of the writing of this piece, all statewide mask mandates from across the country have been lifted. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a tiered level for mask recommendations, and despite local increases, Nassau County is still considered to have “low” community levels of the virus.
However, disability advocates nationwide have called for the reinstatement of mask mandates and rejected current metrics of high and low risk, arguing it disenfranchises immunocompromised people from daily life and public spaces.
Sinjita Bhattacharya, a junior sociology major, penned a blog post with Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement about being a high-risk student during the pandemic. She told The Clocktower she thought Poser’s case might serve as a wake-up call to administrators.
“When I found out, there was a moment of hope that maybe students fighting for and invested in campus safety would finally see these things happen,” Bhattacharya said.
Then, she read Poser’s email. “I now know I was mistaken.”
By Tuesday, April 12, Poser was seen back on campus attending events as usual.
Header photo courtesy of Hofstra University.
