Penn State is urging, but not requiring, students and employees to get COVID-19 vaccines. Some aren’t happy.

Students and faculty will return to in-person classes at Penn State University campuses this fall with some strict COVID-19 mitigation measures awaiting those who are not vaccinated or fail to advise the university of their vaccination status.

Penn State is not requiring students or employees to be vaccinated. However, Penn State President Eric Barron said during a livestreamed town hall on Tuesday that the absence of a vaccination mandate doesn’t mean the university is impartial about the need for students and staff to be vaccinated.

“While we look forward to a fall experience that’s closer to what we used to have, we must remember that we are still in the midst of a pandemic,” Barron said. “The university’s stance is that everyone who can get a vaccine should do so as soon as possible to attain a very high vaccination rate on all Penn State campuses.”

Penn State’s stance on encouraging vaccines but not requiring them is similar to ones taken by the University of Pittsburgh and Millersville University, among other universities, that plan to require unvaccinated students to submit to regular testing for the virus.

But Penn State’s omission of a vaccination mandate, along with other required mitigation measures, left a contingent of faculty and students disappointed and calling the plan unacceptable. The so-called Coalition for a Just University plans a statewide faculty meeting on Thursday to decide its next course of action.

Consequences await

During the town hall discussion, Barron and other university officials pleaded repeatedly for students and employees to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others.

They said doing so will allow them to avoid frequent testing and, depending on the community transmission level where a campus is located, indoor masking mandates that unvaccinated individuals will face.

Furthermore, if a student must be quarantined or isolated, they will likely be unable to attend their classes since the plan is to go with a fully in-person class experience. Instead, students will have the option to switch to the university’s online World Campus or work with their instructors if they have to miss classes, said Provost Nick Jones.

Students planning to live on campus who have not shared their vaccination status with the university by Aug. 9 will be tested upon arrival. University officials said a positive test will result in a 10-day quarantine off campus or at home.

“You won’t be allowed on campus,” Barron said. “If you test negative, you can move in.”

Beyond that initial testing, students who aren’t vaccinated or have failed to provide that information to the university will be subject to regular testing on and around campuses throughout the fall semester.

“Students will be notified when they need to test and there will be significant consequences for noncompliance,” said Kelly Wolgast, director of the university’s COVID-19 operations.

The university will rely on the CDC’s county COVID-19 tracker database each day to gauge the transmission level of the virus in the counties where Penn State campuses are located. If a county where a campus is situated moves to a substantial transmission level and remains there for 24 hours, Wolgast said everyone will be asked to wear masks indoors for at least seven days.

“That allows us to see what the data is going to do,” Wolgast said. “We all hope that this eventually will reduce and we all get back down to a lower transmission of the virus but we have to watch it and see what happens.”

While the hope is to keep students in classes throughout the upcoming semesters, Jones said the university has encouraged faculty to be prepared to make a switch just in case.

“We don’t believe that a move to remote education will be necessary as there are plans that we know have proven to be successful in keeping our students in the classroom,” Jones said. “Most importantly our plans include doing everything we can to keep our students on track to complete their education and their degrees.”

That’s not enough for some faculty and staff.

The coalition of faculty members want to see mandatory vaccinations, masking and social distancing; random surveillance testing; maintenance of improved ventilation standards; a more reasonable and flexible teaching and learning policy; and improvements to Penn State’s mental health care.

“This means, for example, that Penn State faculty who are parents of children too young to be vaccinated or are care-givers of immunocompromised people have no option but to teach face-to-face and risk transmitting the virus from the campus to their homes,” according to the coalition statement’s reacting to the plan.

“While the university has proposed some efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, it offered little clear information as to how these efforts would come to fruition and no clear information as to how noncompliance would be dealt with, other than vague language around consequences.”

Outside the classroom

Beyond the classroom, Jones said the university is focused on providing as many opportunities as possible for students to engage with their peers.

However, he added its plans also have various “on ramps and off ramps” prepared as contingency plans to respond to changes in the pandemic that could include curtailing or suspending some programs and activities.

Jones said campus visitors and indoor event attendees also will be required to adhere to the masking requirements depending on the transmission level in the county where the event is taking place. He encouraged them to check the virusinfo.psu.edu website for the latest information on university policies and mitigation measures so that they can be prepared for their visit.

“Athletic events will be held in a manner that is consistent too with the latest guidelines from the commonwealth and from the CDC and others,” Jones said. “And as always, we are ready to pivot and make adjustments as necessary to facilitate these events.”

Lorraine Goffee, vice president for human resources, said more than half of the university’s more than 35,000 faculty and staff responded to a vaccination status survey and 92% indicated they had been vaccinated. At the University Park campus, she said 92% of employees who responded said they were vaccinated.

Damon Sims, vice president for student affairs, said a similar survey of students’ vaccination status remains open until Friday. So far, it has drawn responses from just 42% of Penn State’s more than 87,000 students, and 77% of them indicated they were fully vaccinated. He added they are mindful that it’s likely that unvaccinated students may not have responded. But he and Barron emphasized regular testing and masking consequences await those who don’t respond.

“Vaccination is the best defense against COVID and the safety of others depends on our community getting vaccinated, " Barron said.

The university plans to make the vaccines and testing available on its campuses. Quarantine and isolation spaces have been identified on or near campus for students living on campus. University officials said they will coach those living off campus on the best way to quarantine or isolate.

“We’re hopeful that we will not have to make further adjustments,” Barron said. “But we need our entire Penn State community’s help for us to have a successful on-campus experience this fall. It’s going to take all of us – students, faculty, staff – doing our part.”

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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