Staff photo / Raymond L. Smith Dave Law, left, an accounting teacher at Youngstown State University, and Donna Walsh, a YSU employee, were among approximately 50 YSU-OEA members and supporters to protest the university’s mask and vaccination policy on Friday outside Tod Hall.

YOUNGSTOWN — Approximately 50 Youngstown State University Ohio Education Association members and their supporters protested outside of Tod Hall on Friday, saying the school’s decision not to mandate masks or vaccinations for staff and students makes the campus unsafe for everyone.

The protesters are trying to convince the university’s administration to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations by requiring all persons inside buildings to wear masks and maintain social distancing.

“They are not following CDC guidelines,” Mark Vopat, a spokesman with the YSU-OEA, said Friday.

The union asked to have one of its members participate in a Zoom meeting Friday that included YSU officials and representatives of the local health department discussing health recommendations, but were refused, according to Vopat.

YSU spokesman Ron Cole said the university is engaged in continuous review of its COVID-19 protocols and are making adjustments when necessary.

“The university is in the process of gathering more information and reviewing our protocols concerning face coverings,” Cole noted. “That process includes a survey seeking information from students and employees regarding vaccines and other campus protocols. The survey has received nearly 2,600 responses since being emailed less than three days ago.”

In addition, university leadership met with city and county health officials Friday morning as part of the information gathering process, Cole noted

“Campus COVID-19 committees that have been in place since the start of the pandemic will also meet to discuss and gather further information.” Cole said.

Vopat said the current university policies are not safe for the faculty, the students or the community.

“We are hopeful they will change course and put in stricter policies,” he continued. “Right now there is no social distancing. We are going back to pre-pandemic class sizes.”

“We should be following CDC guidelines,” he said. “We should defer to the professionals.”

Vopat described YSU as being an outlier among its peer Ohio universities because it is not requiring social distancing or masks to be worn indoors under its current COVID-19 prevention policies. Instead, it is relying upon engineering controls, such as ventilation, air filtration and surface cleaning and disinfection, to mitigate the spread of the virus on campus.

YSU instructor Michelle Nelson brought her son, Michael Fawcett, to the protest. Nelson teaches graphic design.

“I’m a fully vaccinated individual,” she said. “With the breakthrough rates, I’m concerned. I’m in a classroom about six hours for two days a week with 40 different individuals. About half of those people likely are not vaccinated. I will interact with them.”

Nelson would like the university to, at least, follow CDC recommendations and require masks inside of buildings.

“I’m asking for myself, my son and for everyone I come in contact with,” she said. “Why are we putting the youngest among us at risk. I go home to a mother-in-law whose gone through cancer.”

Boardman resident Lori Moff, 56, said she intends to take several classes for the fall semester, if there is a mask mandate.

“I’ve signed up for the classes, but have not paid for them,” she said. “If there is not a mandate, I’m not taking classes.”

Moff said she has an 89-year-old father that she sees on a regular basis.

“I would not like to accidentally murder him by exposing him to the virus,” she said. “I hope that (President Jim ) Tressel does what is right, not what may seem political.”

Dave Law, an accounting teacher, said he wants to work in a safe environment and wants to keep his students safe.

“It is lunacy to believe it is safe to go into these classrooms without wearing masks,” he said. “At the speed the Delta variant is spreading, I believe if we don’t have a mask mandate the university will be closed within two months at the latest.”

YSU employee Donna Walsh described hearing CDC statistics that states about 45 percent of the people in the Youngstown area not being vaccinated.

“I am immuno compromised,” she said. “With no mandate, I will have to file a disability accommodation under those unsafe circumstances.”

Eva Landerson, 20, a senior philosophy major, said she is disappointed in the university’s stance.

“I would like to see more students out supporting this,” Landerson said. “I would consider taking a year off.”