Michigan universities pull together fall vaccine policies
ANNA LIZ NICHOLS, Associated Press/Report for America
May 8, 2021
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LANSING, Mich. (AP) Three of Michigan s 15 public universities have announced COVID-19 vaccine mandates, while others are evaluating plans or implementing other strategies to increase immunizations among students.
The University of Michigan and Oakland University both will require vaccines for students who want to live on campus. Michigan s Dearborn campus will require everyone on campus to provide proof of vaccination or weekly negative tests.
It was a good move for UofM to make early plans for students to return to classes safely, student body President Nithya Arun said. She said the university owes it to its over 48,000 students to make timely decisions to keep them safe after a confusing fall semester when students learned they’d come back to campus just two months before classes started and then were sent home by Thanksgiving
OU Trustees approve three-year contract extension for President Pescovitz
Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz will continue to serve as president through June 2025 following a contract extension approved by the Board of Trustees on April 12, 2021.
The Oakland University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a three-year contract extension for President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, M.D., who began her tenure in July, 2017. The contract runs through June, 2025.
“We are very fortunate to have President Pescovitz leading Oakland University,” said Oakland University Board Chair Tonya Allen. “Her relentless drive, engaging personality, commitment to excellence and diversity, generosity, and uncompromising vision make her an inspirational and extremely effective leader.”
Similarly, Grinnell College, a private liberal arts college in Iowa, will require the vaccine for students next year, but the chair of the Iowa Board of Regents said that the state’s public universities will not.
Public universities in different states are also making different decisions. The University of Massachusetts campuses at Amherst, Boston and Lowell, along with nine other Massachusetts public universities, are all requiring vaccines for students this fall. The Colorado State University system is also mandating them, as is Washington State University.
Meanwhile, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees voted this month not to include COVID-19 vaccines on its list of required immunizations for students. The board chair, John Compton, stressed personal freedom but strongly encouraged students and employees to consider getting a vaccine, according to a press release.
COVID-19 vaccination required for University of Michigan students living on campus in fall
Updated 2:23 PM;
Today 2:23 PM
The seal of the University of Michigan on a sign for the Modern Languages Building, 812 Washington St. on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020.Jacob Hamilton/MLive.com
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ANN ARBOR, MI – Students living on the University of Michigan campus in the fall are required to have a COVID-19 vaccine, officials announced Friday.
Students must provide proof of their vaccination or an approved exemption by July 15 to be permitted to move into their assigned room, officials said on April 23.