Governor Dan McKee
Hundreds of colleges across the country are requiring their students to be fully vaccinated in order to return to campus to take in classroom instruction in the fall.
Locally, Brown and Roger Williams Universities have already mandated it as has the University of Massachusetts system, but not Rhode Island’s public college system.
There are no plans to require students to be vaccinated as experts consistently recommend college students do so, less for the impact on the students, and more for how they have proven to be spreaders to their parents and grandparents during breaks.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
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.