Penn State faculty leading Friday rally at Old Main to demand COVID-19 vaccine mandate
A faculty-based Penn State group that’s garnered more than 2,500 signatures calling for a vaccine mandate plans to hold a rally Friday to present the university president with its petition.
Coalition for a Just University (CJU), which formed last year, intends to gather on noon Friday at Old Main to make several demands related to the university’s COVID-19 policies, most notably the group’s desire to see the vaccine required. Several speakers are expected to address the crowd, and CJU will livestream the event on both its Twitter and Facebook pages.
Although the group is mainly comprised of faculty, it’s also encouraging attendance from students, community members, employees and other supporters. Nearly 1,200 faculty members signed the open letter, in addition to more than 1,500 other supporters.
“The administration and the board of trustees must assume their rightful responsibilities and take the necessary actions to implement, posthaste, a vaccine mandate to ensure a humane and equitable response to the urgent public health crisis facing our university and communities,” Gary King, professor of Biobehavioral Health, said in a written statement.
More than 700 universities across the country have joined in deciding to require the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than half the Big Ten is now among them. Penn State students and faculty have called for a mandate since the spring, with both the faculty senate and the University Park Undergraduate Association passing formal resolutions urging the requirement.
More recently, earlier this month, two student governments released a joint open letter reiterating their desire for a mandate. The State College Borough Council also formally threw its support behind that letter, and CJU formed its own open letter and is again pushing for a mandate.
Penn State has consistently bristled at the notion of the requirement since at least April. University President Eric Barron has instead championed the idea of “heavily incentivizing” the vaccine, encouraging it but not requiring it.
That hasn’t sat well with many faculty, especially those involved with CJU who warned Penn State it wasn’t doing enough at this time last year — and then saw one of the nation’s largest college outbreaks at University Park. About 5,000 UPark students were infected with COVID in the 2020 fall semester.
“By not requiring that staff, students and faculty be vaccinated before they return, the administration is playing the worst kind of politics with public health and the safety of our communities,” Eduardo Mendieta, professor of philosophy, said in a CJU news release. “Vaccines are accomplishments of science, but also acts of ethical and civic beneficence and virtue. Vaccines are the means through which we show we care for each other, especially those who are most vulnerable among us.”
Besides a vaccine mandate, other demands in the letter include:
- Continue masking and social distancing
- Continue to conduct random surveillance testing
- Maintain improved ventilation standards
- Institute a more reasonable and flexible teaching and learning policy
- Improve Penn State’s mental health care resources
Penn State classes start Aug. 23.
