Boston talk radio was on fire Monday morning as residents called receptive hosts to air their anger and frustration over an incredible story that was covered by TV powerhouse WBZ.
As WBZ reporter David Wade tweeted on May 7:
Wild story. Three UMass-Amherst students were sent packing - losing credits and tuition - for taking a picture outdoors without a mask. Parents are furious and wonder why same rules didn't apply to hockey players celebrating on campus after nat'l championship.
Indeed, while Paul Burton, the WBZ reporter on the scene, did not identify the students, and remained circumspect about two of the parents, he offered plenty of devastating information from that bastion of leftism, Massachusetts, and from one of their government-funded schools.
Andover parents Kristin and Scott are speaking out on behalf of their daughter. She along with two of her friends are freshmen at UMass Amherst. A picture posted on social media of the three friends not wearing masks outside was handed over to the university and that has landed them in serious trouble.
The parents and friends say the three young women are very good students who made Dean’s List their first semester, and they’re angry that in a state where so-called “Republican” Gov. Charlie Baker finally has begun to lift his authoritarian and unconstitutional lockdowns and mask mandates, the three girls should be targeted by UMass, Amherst (about an hour west of Boston) for not wearing masks OFF-CAMPUS, and on a Saturday to boot.
’There was a photo sent to the administration of these girls outside off campus on a Saturday. This is why they lost a whole semester of their schooling,’ Kristin said.
And Burton adds:
Teresa and RJ’s daughter was also suspended. ‘She was valedictorian and class president of her high school. She did everything right,’ RJ said.
The story has gone viral, getting attention from The New York Post, whose reporter, Kathianne Bonniello writes:
The freshman were cut off from virtual learning after being suspended and barred from taking their finals, meaning they will have to redo the semester, their parents griped.
And part of their frustration comes from the fact that the university heads appear to be lacking any standards as to how they apply their mask edicts for off-campus behavior.
Related: CNN’s Smerconish Pushes Fascism To Pressure Americans Into Getting Vaccinated
As Bonniello writes, in April, the UMass hockey team won a championship, and was welcomed back…
(A)thletes were seen celebrating, some without masks, as they arrived back on campus to a large crowd, according to a report.
WBZ provides footage of the welcome, which was more than a mere welcome, but, rather, saw crowds of people lining a street, applauding an “unmasked” team member running with the hockey trophy in his hands.
But what might be more to the point here is that UMass-Amherst already has a “vaccine” mandate for all students. So if the UMass bureaucracy expects that students are jabbed, why do administrators demand that students wear masks?
Meanwhile, the young ladies are stuck.
"That negates this whole semester, $16,000 of money and they have to reapply for next semester. But they missed housing registration,' said Scott, the parent of one of the evil mask-avoiders.
Thus far, UMass has not changed its stance, but as questions and angry voices ring out around the Bay State, the pressure will mount for the administrators to wake up and face their own lack of standards.