Weekly Briefing: A Different Vaccination Mandate

To ease vaccine hesitancy, this college is waiting for FDA approval of the Covid-19 vaccines before requiring the shots. ADVERTISEMENT [Advertisement]( [logo] Was this newsletter forwarded to you? [Please sign up to receive your own copy.]( You’ll support our journalism and ensure that you continue to receive our emails. [Read this newsletter on the web](. A different vaccination mandate. [image] Eastern Oregon U. [About 45 percent]( of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This week those vaccination numbers [made news]( when the White House said it would not meet President Biden’s goal of getting 70 percent of adults vaccinated by Independence Day. There are many reasons for the slow pace of vaccination, and they vary by community and state. The White House said it would focus on vaccinating adults who are 18 to 26 — college-age students. [More than 500 colleges]( will require students, employees, or both to receive Covid-19 vaccines for the fall semester. Other institutions aren’t requiring the vaccines but are instead encouraging students, faculty, and staff members to get them. Some colleges [are giving students incentives]( to get the shots, with relaxed public-health rules for the vaccinated, a lottery for free housing, and even a $1,000 credit. Then there are the colleges that don’t want professors to even [ask students about their vaccination status](. Eastern Oregon University is shaping its vaccination policy differently. This month it became the state’s last public university to require students and employees to get Covid-19 vaccines for the fall semester. But the mandate won’t go into effect until one of the vaccines receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Both Pfizer and Moderna have [applied for such approval]( and health experts have said it’s likely to be forthcoming. Thomas A. Insko, president of Eastern Oregon, said the university’s policy was intended to quell fears and vaccine hesitancy, and to help people accept the mandate. In surrounding Union County, [vaccination rates]( are low compared with the state’s. About 36 percent of residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine, compared with 56 percent in Oregon as a whole. The university surveyed the campus and decided that waiting for FDA approval might make more people comfortable with the mandate. In the survey, 65 percent of student respondents said they didn’t think the university should require a vaccine. About 75 percent of faculty respondents said they wanted to make vaccination mandatory. And while 43 percent of staff members wanted such a mandate, 47 percent did not. The Union County numbers reflect a conservative culture in the area, Insko told our Francie Diep. They also show that there’s not much concern in those communities about coming down with Covid-19, Insko said. Ultimately, he felt a vaccination mandate would be in the campus’s best interest. [Read more in Francie’s story](. Paid for and Created by Capella University [Improving access to Prior Learning Assessment is a must for education equity]( Prior Learning Assessment allows schools to give students credit for prior work and life experience. Expanding its application could help improve equity in education. ADVERTISEMENT [Advertisement]( Subscribe to The Chronicle The Chronicle’s award-winning journalism challenges conventional wisdom, holds academic leaders accountable, and empowers you to do your job better — and it’s your support that makes our work possible. [Subscribe Today]( Lagniappe. - Learn. The pandemic changed our sense of time. [Should we go back?]( (Noēma magazine) - Read. Meetings. Let’s circle back to them later, [or never](. (The New York Times) - Listen. Do you carry a water bottle with you nearly everywhere? You can [thank Big Water]( for that. (Slate) - Watch. What’s the last place in the country where you’re encouraged to browse, not buy? [Watch this](. (TikTok) —Fernanda This Week‘s Top Reads THE PANDEMIC [The UNC Scandal No One Talks About]( By Andy Thomason [image] The Nikole Hannah-Jones case has Black scholars asking if they’re welcome. It’s not the first time. ADVERTISEMENT [Advertisement]( CAMPUS SPEECH [Florida Law Will Require Public Colleges to Survey for ‘Intellectual Freedom’ and ‘Viewpoint Diversity’]( By Emma Pettit [image] Calling colleges “hotbeds for stale ideology,” Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that has been criticized as unnecessary and potentially chilling. THE REVIEW [The Assault on Black Academics]( By Nneka D. Dennie [image] Boards of trustees are increasingly making clear whose scholarship matters — and whose doesn’t. Job Announcement Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Earlham College. [Visit jobs.chronicle.com]( for more details. Paid for and Created by New Jersey Institute of Technology [The U.S. Finds an Enterprising Partner in Higher Ed as it Moves to Invest in Infrastructure]( Managing the growth of urban centers, NJIT students, faculty and alumni are evaluating the impact of transportation as well as building sustainable infrastructure in efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the infrastructure sector. Today's Global Campus Strategies for Reviving International Enrollments and Study Abroad Pandemic travel restrictions cut both ways, causing international enrollments to plummet and limiting study-abroad opportunities. This Chronicle report provides an in-depth look at how the global education experience has changed and offers strategies for assessing and adapting programs to ensure students' exposure to cultural and global diversity. [Order your copy today.]( Job Opportunities [Search the Chronicle's jobs database]( to view the latest jobs in higher education. What did you think of today’s newsletter? 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