CCSU Requiring Full Vaccination For 2021-22 School Year

By Catherine Shen, The Bristol Press

June 28, 2021

A policy requiring students to be fully vaccinated against covid-19 before returning to campus in the fall was approved Thursday by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents.

Dr. Jane Gates, interim president of CSCU said the vaccines that are currently authorized in the U.S. are safe, effective and critical to resuming normal operations at the campuses this fall.

“Now is the time for students planning on attending college this fall to get vaccinated,” she said in a released statement. “With more infectious, more severe variants becoming more and more prevalent, getting your shot is the best way to protect yourself, your family, and our communities.”

The policy states “all students participating in any on-campus activity at a BOR governed institution are required to be fully vaccinated against covid-19. Students are required to report vaccination compliance to the college or university they physically attend.”

For those who are unable to be vaccinated for medical or non-medical reasons may request an exemption, according to the policy. If they do receive an exemption, those students will be required to comply with preventative measures as deemed necessary by the university or college. Those measures may include modified quarantine, surveillance testing, and mask wearing.

Students who plan only on attending online classes are currently not required to be vaccinated, but school officials strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated.

This decision follows several of the state’s public and private academic institutions that are making student vaccinations mandatory for the fall, including the University of Connecticut, Yale University, Trinity College and the University of Hartford.

Central Connecticut State University, which falls under the CSCU governance, told The Herald Friday it is currently waiting to review the actual policy in full before making any statements.

While fully in support of the vaccination requirement, Student Regent and Chair of the Board’s Student Advisory Committee Audrey Nielsen spoke before the board Thursday and said many students have raised concerns about the requirements.

Students hope there will be an expansion as to what schools have to do to accommodate those with medical exemptions and they also want more information on establishing requirements on modified quarantine, testing and mask wearing mandates, she said.

“The student recommends that the Board of Regents consider expanding policy to explore the amount of time students spend on campus, requirements for students only online versus part-time versus full-time and establishing specific resources for students to stay fully online if that’s available to them if they are unable to get the vaccine,” Nielsen said.

The adopted policy currently does not require all campus employees to be fully vaccinated. It will be up to the CSCU president to implement that decision if needed, according to the policy. The Board of Regents acknowledged that for represented employees, there will be discussions with the unions and evaluations are ongoing to determine if this course of action will be needed.

This story will be updated.