One plan for American higher ed this fall: how many campuses are requiring vaccines? UPDATED

UPDATED MAY 1

As spring term proceeds, colleges and universities are planning for this upcoming fall semester.

There is a lot going on in this complex process, especially as pandemic conditions change. I have posted about one scenario already, plus a glimpse of all of 2021 from way back in 2020, and there are more posts to come. Today I just wanted to focus on one particular detail, and I’ll phrase it as a question:

How many colleges and universities will require COVID-19 vaccinations for students, faculty, and staff to return to campus?

Such a requirement makes sense on the face of it.  The leading vaccines do a great job of blocking COVID spread. There are growing stocks of vaccines, multiple brands of the stuff, and also a burgeoning system of vaccination sites across the nation.  If a college or university wants to return to in-person education, mandating vaccines feels like an intuitive choice.

Some institutions are already doing so.  Here’s my current list of campuses requiring vaccinations:

1. American University
2. AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library
3. Boston University
4. Bowdoin College
5. Brown University
6. California State University system (contingent on FDA approval)
7. Clark Atlanta University
8. Cleveland State University
9. College of the Atlantic
10. Cornell University
11. Dartmouth College
12. Dickinson College
13. Duke University
14. Emory University
15. Fort Lewis College
16. Georgetown University
17. George Washington University
18. Grinnell College
19. Hampshire College
20. Harvey Mudd College
21. Ithaca College (“the college plans to require all students who are attending this fall to be vaccinated”)
22. Lasell University
23. Lehigh University
24. Macalester College (employees as well as students)
25. Manhattanville College
26. Morehouse College
27. Morehouse School of Medicine
28. Morgan State University
29. New York University
30. Northeastern University
31. Nova Southeastern University
32. Oakland University
33. Paul Quinn College
34. Princeton University
35. Roger Williams University
36. Rutgers University
37. St. Edward’s University
38. Seattle University
39. Spelman College
40. Syracuse University (starting in summer, not fall)
41. University of California system (proposed)
42. University of Delaware
43. University of Maryland
44. University of Notre Dame
45. Wesleyan University
46. Yale University

That’s Nova Southeastern University’s Razor being a big baby.

Why wouldn’t a campus require vaccines?  For example, a group of Idaho colleges and universities decided not to.  Others have also taken anti-requirement positions:

1. Minnesota State University-Mankato
2. St. Catherine University
3. University of Tennessee system
4. Virginia Tech
5. Wichitaw State University

One reason is if leadership thinks it’s redundant. The SUNY system Chancellor Jim Malatras stated that those 64 institutions will not require vaccination, because people will do it on their own:

“The way we’re approaching this is it’s going to be voluntary. As we’ve been opening up and getting more folks eligible, we’ve been pushing very hard to get all of our faculty, our staff, and our students eligible vaccinated. People are getting vaccinated. They don’t need to be mandated. They’re doing it because they want to turn the page on COVID…”

Another reason is that states might prohibit this from taking place.  Texas just did this for any institution taking state money, like public universities:

Texans shouldn't be required to show proof of vaccination & reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives.

I issued an Executive Order that prohibits government-mandated vaccine passports in Texas.

Don't tread on our personal freedoms. pic.twitter.com/weTbz4FKyH

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 6, 2021

A third reason to avoid mandating jabs is that it’s harder to require medicines that are only FDA approved for emergency purposes.

Meanwhile, many colleges and universities are apparently thinking about it.  Here’s a sample of “ask us later” institutions in the Boston area.  So is UNC-Charlotte, it seems.

I have some other questions, like: will these campuses enforce perimeter checks? What will they accept as proof of vaccination (the card, or a physical copy thereof, or a photo)?  How many people opposed to public health measures will claim a religious exception?  Will some campuses mandate vaccination for students, but not faculty or staff?

More to come. As ever, happy to hear your thoughts in comments below.

(thanks to Benjy Renton, Andy Thomason, Erik Simpson, Robert McGuire, Terry Bradley, Cristián Opazo, Linda Burns, Dylan Ruediger, my wife Ceredwyn, and Todd Bryant for some fine links)

Liked it? Take a second to support Bryan Alexander on Patreon!