STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — An online petition drive is calling for the end of the University of Wisconsin’s system-wide mask mandate, which has been in place for more than a year.
It was started by a political organization known as Young Americans for Liberty, and it has been shared on social media, advertised on bulletin boards, and slipped underneath doors in residence halls.
Destiny Goretski is the Wisconsin State Chair for Young Americans for Liberty and has been working to organize and promote the petition drive. She says some students feel duped because they thought that taking the vaccine would give them a choice when it comes to face coverings.
“[They] were told that if they got the vaccine, they wouldn’t have to wear a mask. So they were tricked into getting that, but now they still have to wear the mask,” she said.
The group is not officially affiliated with UWSP, but is working to become officially recognized in that manner. Additionally, Goretski is not a student at the school, but she says she is working to help students have the freedom to choose when it comes to their health.
“My job is to be there for the students to give them support and resources to help them be able to make their own medical decisions,” she said.
Gorteski adds that the petition has already picked up hundreds of signatures and that they are hoping it leads to some serious discussions with officials at the University and UW Regents. If not, she says the group is also looking at other options.
Some students say they were uncomfortable with a non-university group trying to impose changes on campus. “I don’t feel very comfortable with that, and it doesn’t make me feel very safe either. And the fact that they’re trying to end the mask mandate which is in place for our benefit and our health is also unsettling,” Jess, a sophomore at UWSP told WAOW-TV.
She says she appreciates the mask mandate, and that it makes her feel safer.
University officials say that the mask mandate is in place to protect university students, staff, and communities. They believe that this petition was not started by students at the university.
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