The one-year mark since the beginning of this pandemic is right around the quarter and the spread of COVID-19 within UCSB's college town of Isla Vista, CA has never been worse. I am calling for UCSB and Chancellor Yang to hold UCSB students in IV carelessly partying accountable. Please sign this petition to put pressure on the University and Chancellor Yang to begin making changes.

As of 3 days ago (1/21/2021), Santa Barbara County has surpassed the urgency of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County due to the extremely high number of cases just in the small town of IV. According to the UCSB External VP for Local Affairs, IV had an alarming 84 new cases in just one week. Thousands of students located in IV are put at an increased risk of contracting the virus due to the selfishness of those having large no-mask gatherings. UCSB spends thousands of dollars on equipment and enforcement tactics to make sure no students or visitors are partying during Halloweekend every year, yet there has been little to no comparable actions being taken during this deadly pandemic. 

Other major Universities such as NYU, Ohio State University, Purdue University, and more, have taken steps to protect their students by suspending those attending parties like the ones happening every weekend in IV. With new Instagram accounts like @ucsb.party, it is easier than ever to identify the students attending these events, yet UCSB refrains from taking real action. We all want life to go back to normal, but that is an impossible task if we continue to allow these irresponsible gatherings to happen.