During last Thursday’s OU Senate meeting it was discussed that university leadership is considering potentially lifting its on-campus indoor mask mandate before the end of the winter semester.

In an effort to make sure as many student voices are heard as possible on the mask mandate issue before any decision is made, Oakland University Student Congress (OUSC) and The Post are collaborating to host the Oakland University mask mandate student survey.

The survey requires an OU email and is only accessible to members of the campus community. The survey features a few short questions about the mask mandate and university policies, as well as a section to leave a written comment. It only takes a couple minutes to answer and all responses to the survey will remain anonymous.

Student Body President Andrew Romano and Vice President Murryum Farooqi were both at the senate meeting last week and left concerned about what could be motivating the potential change in masking policy.

“One of the main reasons upper administration is considering dropping the mask mandate is that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of students who want the mask mandate gone,” Romano said. “The evidence that led them to this conclusion was that they are getting more angry emails than supportive ones about the mandate. Without knowing the mask mandate was in jeopardy those who support it likely had no reason to email administration about the issue, creating what could be a biased sample size. If our university is going to pivot from their ‘listening to the science approach’ and adopt a ‘listening to the students’ approach on [COVID-19] I suggest they give every student a fair opportunity to share their perspective.”

In addition to OUSC leaders sharing the results of the survey with university leadership, The Post plans on publishing a story with the survey results so the information about what OU students want is public and readily available to the campus community.

“I intend to meet with the administration and share the results of the poll, to ensure every student who wants to be heard will be heard on this issue,” Romano said. “The status of the mask mandate affects every student, and many student’s families as we are a majority commuter campus. In my conversations with administration I am committed to sharing what the entire student body wants. I believe all stakeholders should be given the opportunity to weigh in on the status of the mask mandate including faculty, staff, and other campus affiliates.”

All students are encouraged to participate in the survey and make their voices heard on this hugely-significant issue.