On August 23, President Ora Pescovitz announced that all students, faculty and staff are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The mandate, an extension of other infection prevention measures like wearing face masks inside all OU buildings, requires those who are not yet vaccinated to receive their first shot by Friday, September 3, and their second shot for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by Friday, October 1. Oakland University is now among several universities in the state with a similar mandate.

Just a few hours prior to the announcement, I walked around campus and asked students the same question I had asked in the first part of this survey series: Should OU mandate COVID-19 vaccinations? Here are their responses.

Maria Gancar, Graphic Design with a minor in Art History

“For myself, I would yes. I think that people would be safe, but at the same time like I know people that cannot get the vaccine for medical conditions. I don’t know if that’s right for them to mandate something like that because I have friends losing jobs because they have Crohn’s [Disease] or something else that they don’t feel safe taking the vaccine, so they are getting fired because of that.”

Emma Schien, Psychology
“Yes. That would definitely decrease the spread and it’s just like the flu vaccine, just like wearing a seatbelt I feel. That’s my opinion.”

Lizzy Kay, Nursing
“Just let people make up their own mind because everyone is going to have a different opinion.”

Kaylee Siebert, Communications
“I have the vaccination, but no, I don’t think so. Just because, I mean, people are, we’re college students. People can make up their own minds. Don’t tell people what to do. Let them figure it out on their own.”

Nik Lewis, Nursing
“Probably. It helps prevent [COVID-19]. I’m not 100% sure because I know there’s some concerns about vaccine safety, but yeah, I think the vaccines should be mandated.”