COVID-19 Vaccination: Standing Together to Save Lives Posted
NJ College & University Presidents: Believe & Trust in the Science As New Jersey’s college and university presidents of color, we share a duty to be advocates for knowledge, truth, equity and humanity. We have come together collectively to encourage our fellow members of Black and brown communities to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. We believe and trust the science. We ask that you do too.” Top NJ College & University Presidents urge people of color to get vaccinated.
The data shows that the two approved vaccines are greater than 94 percent effective with minimal known side effects. We urge our communities of color, who already struggle with many underlying health conditions that put us at a much higher risk for COVID-19, to listen, understand and act on the science showing that these vaccines are safe.
University and college presidents of color say trust the science. Take the COVID shot. | Opinion
Updated Feb 04, 2021;
Posted Feb 04, 2021
New Jersey Higher Education Presidents of Color: (From left to right, top to bottom) Kean University President Dr. Lamont O. Repollet; Rutgers University President Dr. Jonathan Holloway; Bloomfield College President Dr. Marcheta P. Evans; Atlantic Cape Community College President Dr. Barbara Gaba; Felician University President James W. Crawford III, J.D. and Essex County College President Dr. Augustine A. Boakye.
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By Marcheta P. Evans, Jonathan Holloway and Lamont O. Repollet
As New Jersey’s college and university presidents of color, we share a duty to be advocates for knowledge, truth, equity and humanity. We have come together collectively to encourage our fellow members of Black and brown communities to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. We believe and trust the science. We ask that you do, too.
Credit: Bloomfield College
Dr. Marcheta P. Evans
Upward mobility is a promise that many students and their families count on when sending their students to college. As part of the process of social mobility in America is the expectation that earning a college degree will be the foundation on which the next generation will be better off economically as compared to the prior generation. This promise for upward mobility is deeply rooted in the American psyche, and especially for first-generation college students and families of color who represent historically underserved populations in higher education.
This was the case for me when I was being raised by my grandparents in Alabama during the civil rights movement. As an African American student, the type of higher education institution I chose to attend was just as critical. I enrolled in a small Historically Black College and University (HBCU), a minority-serving institution (MSI), because I saw it as a place where I could be who I