Mary Murphy

Managing Editor 

mem6812@psu.edu

A group of faculty members at Behrend recently held their first two classes of the semester on Zoom in protest against, what they believe to be, the university’s inadequate COVID protocols. 

This “zoom-in” was held in an effort to raise awareness of the fact that there are faculty, staff and students unsatisfied with the way Penn State has responded to the threat of COVID-19 this semester. Matthew Levy, Associate Professor of Art History here at Behrend, is one such Behrend faculty member. 

“This was an action taken to demonstrate our faculty concern regarding the university’s health and safety protocols with regard to COVID-19.”  Levy said.

This call to action trickled down from the Penn State wide organization known as the Coalition for a Just University, which includes Penn State students, faculty and staff from across the commonwealth. The group’s mission is just that: to create a more just university. With this goal in mind, the issue they’re tackling currently is Penn State’s lack of a vaccine mandate.  

The Penn State policy, as it stands, does not require students, faculty or staff to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. There are testing and masking requirements meant to temper the virus from spreading, but critics of the policy are vocal–saying it’s simply not adequate. Though there have been concerns about other aspects of the guidelines, it appears that the lack of a vaccine mandate is the primary objection. 

“Of greatest concern to me was the lack of a vaccine mandate for faculty, staff and students,” Levy noted, “This is an action that has been taken by hundreds of colleges and universities across the country.”

Levy continued, “It’s [a vaccine mandate] the fastest way of getting out of this pandemic. Every person that’s vaccinated is less of a vector.”

At least eight of Penn State’s fellow fourteen Big Ten Conference schools mandate the vaccine. These schools are certainly not alone in their decision–every top 25 school in the nation has instituted a similar policy. That being said, the increasing prevalence of a vaccine mandate has not gone unchallenged. There has been significant push back from some Republican politicians, including threats to withdraw funding if a mandate is enforced and, in extreme cases, Republican run states have outright banned any vaccine mandates. 

Dr. John Champagne, Professor of English at Behrend, is resolute in his position that any potential retaliation in response to a vaccine mandate is well worth any risk it may incur. 

“The amount of the budget that comes from the state is small and other representatives have said that they would stand up for Penn State if these republicans tried to make trouble around the vaccine mandate.” Dr. Champagne said.

It is important to note, however, that many of these anti-mandate declarations were made prior to the Food and Drug Administration’s, FDA, full approval of the Pfizer vaccine and relied heavily on the vaccine’s emergency use authorization as justification. It remains to be seen if the FDA’s decision will impact the republican position. Champagne is hopeful that the vaccine’s full approval will motivate Penn State to issue the mandate.  

“To us this is a no-brainer,” Dr. Champagne said. “Because one of the arguments against mandating vaccination was, ‘Well, it hasn’t technically been approved.’ Well, it has been now.”  

The Coalition is also petitioning for another notable change to be made to the university’s health and safety policy. The policy currently requires that any faculty member who wishes to conduct their classes online must disclose their reasoning to the university, which will then determine if the request is legitimate. Those in opposition to this process are advocating for the right of professors to individually determine if they wish to return in-person, independent of the university. 

“This issue of allowing people to teach in whatever mode they like is really important.” Champagne continued, “There’s so much about the Delta-variant that we still don’t know and are trying to figure out. We know that vaccines help, but there have been these breakthrough infections.” 

Levy himself has children that are too young to be vaccinated, which has been a significant factor in his decision making. 

“I know that I’m not alone. Everyone has similar circumstances, many more serious and severe than my own.” Levy said. “Everything we can do to keep our community and our extended community safe is something we need to do.” 

It appears that there is support, or at the very least a lack of negative backlash, from students with regard to the zoom in. Both Champagne and Levy did not recall any specifically negative responses. 

“[The zoom in] made its point. I think they were, for the most part, receptive to the message.” Levy mused that students have become accustomed to Zoom even though it may not be the desired medium.