Hello Panthers,

I hope you all have had a safe and joyful summer break after what was a challenging school year for many. To say the past year was tough would be an understatement; it tested the limits of our strength and resilience, so I wish that you all were able to find some reprieve from that stress in the last few months. 

I know many of us were excited to come to campus this fall knowing that many of the experiences Covid-19 had us alter, postpone, or forgo completely could be able to make a comeback. However, with the emerging information involving the Delta variant, I know many of us are also apprehensive about our return — especially given that a few of the preventative measures that were in place last year will no longer be in effect. I feel it necessary to help you all to understand why that is, as well as let you know what UNI is doing to ensure the continual protection of your wellbeing.  

As you may have read in prior communications from ForwardTogether, UNI will not be requiring vaccinations. This is due to legislation passed by Governor Kim Reynolds which deems it unlawful for Iowa’s major public universities to have such a requirement. The Iowa Board of Regents has ruled similarly , additionally ruling that mask-wearing may no longer be mandated by the institutions subject to their jurisdiction – of which UNI is one. As an institution, we cannot require students to get vaccinated or wear a mask, or else lose our eligibility for state grants and contracts. Without these, our ability to remain open and operating would be jeopardized.   

What UNI can and will do is continue to communicate to students the most up to date information regarding COVID-19 and its variants, provide opportunities for vaccinations on campus, as well as various other strategies for preventing transmission.

Because UNI cannot enforce certain behaviors, it falls upon each of us to make responsible and informed decisions on our own. It is my hope that we choose to act in the best interest of our community, and the health and safety of not only ourselves — but others.This means getting vaccinated if you are able to do so, limiting unnecessary exposure, and wearing a mask when indoors. This far into the pandemic, putting a mask back on can feel like a step backwards, but it is precisely these actions that will help us get back to being a community free to gather, socialize, and live without fear. 

I understand how tiring it has been living through this, and I know we are all burnt out in one way or another. Hope can feel difficult to come by these days, but I assure you that it is not hopeless. Know that faculty, staff, and students at UNI have been working tirelessly all summer to ensure you would be able to have the best experience possible. Also know that there are resources available to help get you through this. You do not have to bear any of this alone. 

Let’s look out for one another and keep each other safe, so that when we make it to the end of this — and there will be an end –we can all share in the joy of having made it through, together. Until then, I will be looking forward to the day we can grab a coffee at Chats, sit together somewhere in Maucker, and speak of COVID only in the past-tense.

Samantha Bennett

NISG Student Body President