Monmouth University in New Jersey is requiring students during the fall semester to mask up and confirm their vaccination status, according to the school’s updated COVID-19 guidelines.
The guidelines were posted on June 14 and state all students are required to be fully vaccinated for the fall semester and must continue to wear masks in teaching spaces on campus. Faculty and students will be required to submit proof of their vaccination status using an online portal to upload documentation, although some exemptions apply, a university spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
BLUE-STATE COLLEGES REQUIRING COVID-19 VACCINATIONS FOR RETURN TO CAMPUS
“The university has carefully considered the role that COVID-19 vaccinations will play in safeguarding the overall health and safety of the university community,” Monmouth President Patrick Leahy said in a statement. “We acknowledge that reaching a high vaccination level among our community is the most important factor in resuming in-person activities across campus this fall.”
Campuses in Democrat-led states have been requiring students to receive a vaccine before returning to campus in the fall, though being asked to continue wearing a mask goes above and beyond what most schools are requiring.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines on May 13, announcing fully vaccinated people could resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, unless instructed otherwise.
One student from the school, who wished to remain anonymous, argued that if the efficacy of the vaccine is high enough to ward off infection, then it “should eliminate the need to wear masks entirely.”
Carlie Zeidler, president of College Republicans at Monmouth, also argued that “Monmouth University requiring the vaccine is an outrageous attack on a person’s rights.”
“The government and, or, any institutions do not and should not have the authority to tell someone what to put in their body. Vaccines should 100% be a person’s choice,” she added.
Zeidler created a petition against the vaccine mandate at Monmouth that has gained more than 250 signatures.
In a statement sent to the Washington Examiner, the university spokesperson said, “We have decided to proceed with caution and have asked all students and faculty to wear masks in teaching spaces in an extra effort to keep all members of our community safe and healthy.”
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The spokesperson cited the CDC advisement indicating that colleges and universities with a mixed population of vaccinated and unvaccinated students should make choices to protect those who are not fully vaccinated, noting that the school does “permit some exemptions” for students and faculty not to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
