Published: Aug. 4, 2021
By: Adrian Dubose, LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE–LSU said Wednesday that it will encourage but not require the 40,000 students on its campuses across the state to be vaccinated against the coronavirus before attending fall classes.
Instead, students can either submit proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test when they arrive on campus for classes starting August 23. Students will have to wear masks to class, and unvaccinated students will be required to take monthly COVID tests.
Although an LSU safety and medical committee recommended last week that the school cut class sizes by 50% to slow the surging Delta variant of the virus, LSU plans to only make that reduction temporarily for classes with 100 students or more during peak infection periods.
The plan, announced by new president William F. Tate IV, is likely to anger faculty members, who have been seeking permission to decide whether to move other classes online or teach them in hybrid fashion, with half of the students alternating between attending in person or watching online to provide social distancing.
Dr. Ravi Rau, who has taught physics at LSU for 47 years, said waiting a month between COVID tests for students “is ridiculously too long.” He said the tests should be administered at least weekly to contain outbreaks.
He also noted that the nation’s premier science journal, SCIENCE, recommended mandating COVID vaccines for students.
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LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 