Hello,

I am petitioning on behalf of the student body. Whoever signs this is in agreement with the following:

St. Lawrence University COVID-19 status should be moved back to “Low Risk” status. 97% of students are vaccinated. The science behind the vaccine was originally stating to be 97% effective to prevent transmission (on average). Now with the Delta variant, people who are fully vaccinated are beginning to test positive for Covid-19. With the vaccine it is HIGHLY unlikely for anybody diagnosed with Covid-19 to be at risk of death or extreme sickness. With all due respect, I believe the measures that have been taken this past week are out of control. The school made it mandatory for all students to get the vaccine and now fully vaccinated students are being treated as if we were unvaccinated. I feel we were given false information on what we were to expect when we arrived back on campus. We were told there would be some minor precautions but have now switched to extreme measures. We were told that we would not need masks inside residential buildings. We were also never informed that we would be tested regularly. St. Lawrence presented this semester to be the “new normal” and these promises have not been fulfilled. If we were told this is how the year would go, I can guarantee a large amount of students would not have returned to campus. I think it is very unfair to ask so much of the students and we feel very misinformed, especially changing things after our payment is non-refundable. Here is a proposal I feel would be reasonable:

-Require masks to be worn indoor public places outside residential buildings

-Should be allowed to leave Canton/Potsdam

-Keep gatherings to a maximum of 100 people.

-Allow visitation throughout all dorms

-Do not require asymptomatic students to be tested (make testing optional)

As students, we strongly feel this petition should be considered by the administration and the board. Thank you.

Best,

SLU students.