As roughly 11,000 students took over the campus of YSU, so did that old feeling of life as they knew it.
 
"It's really going to be fun to just see students walking all over campus and just seeing life again," said grad student Nicholas Koupiaris.
 
Well, sort of.
 
Among the adjustments they're making - a campus-wide mask mandate as COVID cases continue to surge.
 
"It's smart right now because when we're outside we can still hang out with our friends, while we're inside it makes sense, you have a mix of people who are vaccinated and not," said student Jaylen Bartell.
 
More than 3,000 of them took part in a university survey about safety and health protocols going forward.
 
It showed more than two thirds of them say they had gotten their COVID shot.
 
While Ohio State and Kent State have enacted vaccine mandates, YSU hasn't.
 
Spokesman Ron Cole says there's no timeline to do it, either.
 
Students we talked to didn't seem to mind.
 
"If things start to get better, I don't really see a need for it but if right now things stay steady with the way Tressel and the rest of YSU has decided to go about it, if it works there's no point in changing it the way I see it," said Bartell.
 
COVID concerns notwithstanding, YSU's student body seems ready to get back to business as usual after the trials and tribulations of remote learning.
 
"I'm a little nervous to see how I do but I would rather be in person looking at the rest of my classmates than through a computer screen," said junior Gianna Battaglia.
 
"Being involved on campus is so important for students and for them to actually be on campus, meet people, make connections, maybe do something they haven't done before is gonna be so great to see," said grad student Sophie Hecht.
 

YSU faculty union representative Mark Vopat told 21 News he's not pleased with how the first day went.

He explained that filtration system upgrades and a UV light filtration system are both not in place as the university had promised.

In addition, he says two AC chiller fans in a campus building are broken, so the air in that facility isn't being circulated.

Vopat also said that the university waited too long to order N95 masks for faculty masks that they now require medical screenings to get them.

He added that some union members are concerned about a potential vaccine mandate and whether the university would have the right to discipline or fire employees who don't get the vaccine.