The bad news is that the mask ban approved by the Nassau Legislature and signed into law by County Executive Bruce Blakeman may not be the solution to deterring demonstrators like those who camped out on college campuses to protest Irasel’s war in Gaza and violated the law.

The good news is that other solutions exist that are better equipped to preserve order on college campuses and protect the rights of Jewish students and other vulnerable groups.

In fact, we supported the county’s drafting of a mask ban when county legislators first proposed it to prevent those who break the law from being punished.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he was forced to dismiss 31 of the 46 cases against protesters who briefly occupied Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall in April, in part because the protesters were wearing masks and could not be identified.

The county mask ban makes hiding one’s identity in public places by wearing a mask or any facial covering a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, a year in jail or both.

The statute approved by the county does provide exceptions for coverings worn to protect the health and safety of the wearer for religious or cultural purposes.

But we agreed with Democratic lawmakers who expressed concerns that the legislation was too loosely drawn and subject to legal challenges.

The Democratic minority accused the Republicans of playing politics with the statute and ignoring compromise legislation they proposed that was fairer and on firmer legal ground.

The first of those legal challenges was filed in federal court last week by two Nassau residents in a class-action lawsuit alleging the county’s mask ban discriminates against people with disabilities by depriving them of equal access to public life.

The complaint, filed by the Albany area advocacy group Disability Rights New York, asks the court to declare the ban unconstitutional and order Nassau County to end it.

Even if the county’s mask ban survives this and perhaps other court challenges, there are many reasons to question the impact the law will have.

One is the problem of establishing intent. Determining that someone wearing a mask intended to hide their identity by wearing a mask – as opposed to health concerns or religious values – may be difficult.

Another is that like mask-wearing bank robbers, lawbreakers can simply remove their facial coverings when they leave the scene of the crime.

And still another is how the law will be enforced.

Jan. 6 insurrectionists wore masks when they stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2020 at the urging of then-President Donald Trump in a bid to overturn the presidential election results.

But Blakeman and Republican legislators supporting the county mask ban have been strangely silent about Trump’s role on Jan. 6 or his current suggestions that he would free those convicted of assaulting democracy on Jan. 6.

Federal courts and some colleges are offering better alternatives than the mask ban.

A federal district court judge in California in August issued an injunction that requires UCLA to keep its campus fully and equally open to Jewish students, including those who believe “they have a religious obligation to support the Jewish state of Israel.”

The judge’s injunction came after Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus in the spring because “they refused to denounce their faith.”

Two cases — one at M.I.T. and the other at Harvard — focused on claims of antisemitic harassment under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VI obligates universities to protect students against harassment based on race, color, or national origin. That includes antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Some colleges that experienced this harassment last year and the public pressure that resulted in three college presidents’ resignations appear to have gotten the message.

Others have announced they would not tolerate threats, harassment, or protests disrupting the learning environment.

And some have even returned to basics by teaching about free speech and its limits.

This is a lesson that students, college administrators and Nassau County legislators would be well served in learning.