Students: join the ‘Mask Up or Pack Up’ campaign

09/15/2020 

SUNY Cortland students are encouraged to join a system-wide social media challenge to spread the word about the importance of wearing face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras has launched the “Mask Up or Pack Up” campaign to promote compliance with evidence-based COVID-19 safety guidelines across SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities.

Students are being urged to submit creative videos that ask their classmates to act responsibly and vigilantly to contain the virus and keep SUNY campuses like Cortland safe and open.

“‘Mask Up or Pack Up’ gives our students a platform to send powerful, persuasive messages to their classmates that encourage them to rise to the challenge and comply with proven COVID-19 safety measures,” said Chancellor Malatras. 

“Over a few short weeks, I’ve met with hundreds of students across more than a dozen campuses, all of whom are acting responsibly so they can stay on campus and learn,” he said. “This campaign will harness their talent, creativity, and frustration with the small fraction of students who jeopardize entire college communities. We need universal compliance and uncompromising vigilance from everyone to keep campuses open — and we are proud of students who are determined to speak directly to their peers to help amplify that message.”

Topics to highlight in videos include the importance of face coverings, physical distancing, avoiding parties and large gatherings and complying with testing and tracing guidelines set forth by the university and the local health department. Submissions, which should be no longer than one minute in duration, ought to be passionate, creative and as powerful as possible.

SUNY will post “Mask Up or Pack Up” videos containing clips from students from across the entire system.

To submit your video, visit suny.edu/maskup.

Learn more about SUNY Cortland’s COVID-19 response at Cortland.edu/safe.