LSU faculty steps up calls for COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Published: May 19, 2021

By: Adrian Dubose | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—LSU faculty members have stepped up calls for a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for students, and school officials have scheduled a meeting open to the entire faculty next Tuesday to discuss that and other safety concerns.

Faculty members sent two letters to LSU Interim President Tom Galligan and Executive Vice President and Provost Stacia Haynie seeking a requirement that students be vaccinated before returning in the fall. At least 125 faculty members have signed onto the request.

Tulane University announced last week that all of its students will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. It joined Xavier University of Louisiana and Dillard University as the only colleges in the state to mandate a COVID-19 vaccine.

The University of New Orleans Faculty Senate passed a 29-0-3 vote last week on a resolution that strongly recommends that all faculty members, staff, and students at UNO get the vaccine.

The letters from the LSU professors came after its faculty senate voted 52-1 last month to call for a vaccine requirement. The letters cited a growing number of colleges around the country that are requiring vaccines for returning students in the fall.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 380 colleges around the nation are requiring vaccines for next fall, and 179 of them are public schools.

LSU officials have maintained that they could not mandate the vaccines since they have only been approved under emergency use authorizations. Pfizer, however, said recently that it was seeking full authorization of its vaccine from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Galligan stated in an interview that LSU would consider a vaccine mandate if the vaccines receive full authorization from the FDA–and especially if the Louisiana Department of Health adds the vaccines to its mandatory vaccine list.

Read more at KATC.com