As per New York State masking policies, masking is no longer required in schools. In anticipation of this change, disabled students at Hofstra University have expressed the need to maintain mask mandates on campus. Hofstra administration has ignored our pleas again and again, putting our lives at risk each time. 

Zoom options have been rolled back. University-wide flexible attendance policies are nonexistent. Quarantine and isolation housing are non-ADA compliant. And now, masks are entirely optional, despite the high members of our Hofstra community, the students who work with children or the elderly, high risk professors, the commuter students who have no choice but to bring COVID home with them, and the students with little to no access to health care.

Having the option to attend courses remotely provides students with an equitable chance to succeed academically. In-person classes do not have closed captions, or raise-hand functions, or protections against COVID-19. Attending in-person classes requires students to mask symptoms of various conditions, and sacrifice their health and well-being. Rather, attending classes remotely provides students the opportunity to learn in a more accommodating environment. Despite the benefits of optional remote attendance, the Hofstra administration has repeatedly denied these requests.

Hofstra's philosophy for this is two-fold. Firstly, one administrative member said, "the most effective pedagogical experience is an in-person one." How can students successfully complete their academic coursework if they are afraid to simply be in the classroom? Secondly, during a student government meeting, President Poser stated that students who are boosted simply are not getting sick, being hospitalized, or dying. It was not addressed that the numbers are so low because KN95, KF94, and surgical masks have been encouraged by the administration since January 18th.

This leaves disabled students with no options. We are being forced to attend in-person classes, when Hofstra has already demonstrated that Zoom is a viable option: technology to broadcast Zoom classes has already been installed in classrooms. Now, we must attend these classes without mask mandates, putting us even further at-risk. And if we do contract COVID-19, we must isolate, with no guarantee that we have somewhere to do so safely, and no University mandate for our professors to allow us to make up missed work. With the rapid release of this decision, students cannot even take a leave of absence to protect themselves.

Hofstra believes it is "following the science" by prematurely lifting mask mandates and rolling back the accommodations that made the University as accessible as it ever has been. By lifting the mask mandates, and compelling students to attend in-person classes, Hofstra has decided that it is acceptable to risk the health of disabled students to appease the masses and “return to normal.” There is no normal when your students are sick and terrified. On behalf of myself, my disabled peers, and Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring (DREAM) Hofstra, I am calling on Hofstra University to do the bare minimum necessary to keep disabled students safe: implement flexible attendance policies for all students (not just those with SAS accommodations) and allow for remote attendance options for in-person classes.

DREAM Hofstra is willing to receive any and all questions the Hofstra administration has concerning this petition and further action. Please contact DREAM Hofstra via dreamhofstra@gmail.com.