Penn State will now mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for University Park employees. Here’s what changed
All of Penn State’s faculty and staff at University Park are now required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Dec. 8, in order to be compliant with an executive order issued last month, the university announced late Tuesday.
Although President Joe Biden’s order requiring vaccination for all federal employees and contractors was released Sept. 9, the university only recently determined that applied to the main campus because it boasts about 1,000 federal contracts. The new mandate does not yet apply to the commonwealth campuses, although university President Eric Barron acknowledged it is “closely reviewing” other parts of Penn State’s funding.
The requirement applies to all Penn State employees, including full-time and part-time faculty, staff and technical workers, even if working remotely. The mandate does not include students — unless they’re on the payroll or supported on graduate assistantships.
“For all practical intents and purposes, it has become evident that we must extend the mandate to all employees at University Park,” Barron said in a written statement. “The great majority of Penn State employees report being vaccinated, which will accelerate compliance.”
According to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard, 81.2% of University Park’s 14,388 full-time employees have already provided proof of vaccination. The biggest disparity remains among full-time union staff, which have seen just 26.9% confirm they are fully vaccinated.
Teamsters Local Union No. 8 — which consists of workers in hospitality, maintenance, landscaping and various other support roles — previously needed a separate negotiation before agreeing to Penn State’s universal masking policy. But, because the vaccine mandate is a federal requirement, union members must also comply.
Teamsters President Jon Light did not immediately respond to a CDT message seeking comment.
Across campus, most faculty greeted news of a mandate as a positive move — while adding it’s coming late and does not go far enough since students are mostly excluded.
“Many of our faculty, staff, students and community members have suffered because this administration has done the absolute minimum as required by law at the last possible moment,” said Valerie Braman, a lecturer in labor and employment relations and a spokesperson for the faculty-based group Coalition for a Just University. “Moreover, this announcement appears designed to maintain funding as opposed to protect public health and safety. It excludes the majority of University Park students as well as everyone at the commonwealth campuses. If we are truly one Penn State, then a requirement should apply equally and equitably.”
Bonj Szczygiel, chair of the faculty senate and an associate professor in landscape architecture and women’s studies, acknowledged the faculty senate has long fought for a vaccine mandate for both employees and students. (The faculty senate even passed a vote of no confidence in August over the university’s return-to-campus plan.) But she welcomed the mandate, even if the university’s hand was essentially forced.
“If it takes federal action to further increase vaccination rates overall, it is a good thing,” she said.
Added Michelle Rodino-Colocino, president of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors: “The vaccine requirement is an important victory for everyone who cares about COVID safety and for everyone — students, staff, faculty — uniting to voice our concerns. But we still have more to do. ... To get back to ‘normal,’ the entire Penn State community needs to be vaccinated.”
The university’s announcement comes after months of pleading and open letters from various groups within the Penn State community that demanded a mandate for all university students and employees. In the spring, both the faculty senate and University Park’s undergraduate student government passed resolutions formally urging a mandate. Faculty have staged several rallies, a petition demanding a mandate surpassed more than 2,500 signatures, and a group of local municipalities penned an open letter asking for a vaccine requirement.
The university refused to budge, explaining that its plan was to “heavily incentivize” the vaccine while not requiring it. In an open letter in August, Barron intimated several reasons for not requiring the vaccine — such as a Quinnipiac poll that showed a nation split among university mandates, mandates that face legal challenges and a (Republican-controlled) state legislature that oversees part of the university’s funding.
But the university relented, at least partially, with the understanding its federal contracts would otherwise be at risk. Penn State’s federal contracts are valued at more than $500 million, while the university is requesting a state appropriation of $358.2 million.
Although Biden’s executive order mainly relates only to federal employees and contractors, and not all Penn State employees are directly connected to federal contracts, the executive order still applies to the entire staff at University Park. In a news release, Penn State clarified the order applies even to buildings where no contracting work takes place — unless the university can “affirmatively determine” that none of its unvaccinated employees will come into contact with a vaccinated contractor employee. Which it cannot.
Because of the federal deadline of Dec. 8, and because individuals are not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, Nov. 24 is the final day that employees can technically get their final dose.
Employees can only be excluded from the mandate if they are entitled to a medical exemption or an accommodation for religious beliefs. The university said such a process will be “forthcoming.”
As for those who do not comply with the mandate and have no exemption, university spokesperson Wyatt DuBois said they will be subject to disciplinary processes already in place that can result in termination. He did not detail what such processes entail, however.
Barron acknowledged it’s also possible that other Penn State campuses outside of University Park could fall under the executive order. “So we are strongly urging all of our employees across the commonwealth to start the vaccination process now, if they have not already done so,” he added.
More than four dozen colleges in Pennsylvania already boast a COVID vaccine mandate, while more than 1,000 nationally can say the same. In the Big Ten, excluding Penn State, four universities do not yet have a vaccine mandate: Iowa, Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin.
The CDT reached out to all four universities Wednesday morning to ask about their reaction to Biden’s executive order and whether they are mandating the vaccine for employees. Iowa did not respond in time for publication, but the other three said they were not yet sure.
A Nebraska spokesperson said the university is still reviewing the executive order, while a Purdue spokesperson said it was “awaiting guidance” on the issue. A Wisconsin spokesperson said he had no information on the matter.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 8:42 AM.
