I guarantee you that things like this are being driven by the attitudes / beliefs of the wider student population. Even if this particular initiative does not explicitly involve any specific student groups.
That is, the attitudes of the staff are downstream of the students.
This is also reinforced by the fact that (entry-level) staff at universities are often recent humanities graduates from that university.
I disagree. In my experience, these attitudes start with a _very specific_ group of students, by no means representative of the larger student body. I've actually experienced far more dissent to rules like this on campus then agreement, even accounting for silence. You stated yourself that these staff are usually recent humanities graduates. Even in the workplace, where I've experienced the big co commandment list handed down from on high, that list was by far a minority decision in terms of actual workforce engagement. At least where I am, students are not asking for things like this, employees are not asking for things like this, small task forces of motivated people are creating these rules and enforcing them globally through the fear of their supervisors.
That is, the attitudes of the staff are downstream of the students.
This is also reinforced by the fact that (entry-level) staff at universities are often recent humanities graduates from that university.