It has been a dream of mine forever to attend the University of Tennessee, and now that I am finally a student, I feel that my freedom is slowly being stripped away starting with mandatory masks in the classroom. 

Last year when I started my second year at the University of Tennessee, a mandatory mask mandate was put into place for students who had in-person classes, and a few weeks into the fall semester, all classes became virtual leading to the school shutting down due to a spike in COVID cases. Now that we are beginning our second year of school with COVID guidelines, students are forced to wear masks in the classroom, and if the rule is not abided, students will be expelled from the classroom. 

It is unconstitutional for the University of Tennessee to put measures on students especially those who are healthy and those who are vaccinated. In just one click we can ask those in power at the University of Tennessee and beyond to lift the mandatory mask mandate and make it optional in the classrooms. I have an upcoming meeting with Chancellor Plowman this Tuesday to discuss optional masks and I would like to have this information as a secondary source.