Hundreds of UM instructors want mandatory vaccinations for in-person students

Hundreds of University of Michigan instructors are circulating a petition in hopes of convincing the administration to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for students who will attend classes in-person on the Ann Arbor campus in the fall or allow instructors to opt-out of in-person teaching.

The two-page document says that the instructors "are concerned about the safety of the University and Ann Arbor community from COVID infection in Fall 2021."

"All of us are eager to return to the classroom provided it is safe," the petition says.

The petition began circulating on Thursday and is signed by more than 800 professors, lecturers and graduate student teachers. Those who signed so far represent about 11% of the 7,600 people who teach on UM's campus. 

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The petition was started to urge the administration to support science, "which has clearly shown that the COVID vaccine will prevent illness, death, and community spread," said UM art and design professor Rebekah Modrak. 

"Our understanding is that some state legislators are considering undermining science through further politicization of the virus, and we hope that the University will lead the state by initiating an ethically responsible mandate that allows us to protect one another," Modrak said. "A vaccine mandate is the surest way to enable us to expand educational activities." 

The petition asks for a mandatory vaccination policy for students, along with employees and community members who come to campus unless medically exempt. 

UM President Mark Schlissel explained why U-M has not mandated vaccination for all students at a weekly COVID-19 briefing, Allen Liu, chair of the UM Faculty Senate, wrote in an email to faculty Friday.

"The State legislature is currently working on the higher education budget for FY22. Bills passed out of committee in both the house and the senate contain a rider that would prevent universities from receiving state support if vaccinations are required as a condition of enrollment or to attend in-person class," wrote Liu, a professor of mechanical engineering.

"Until these legislative issues are resolved, instituting a vaccine requirement for all members of the community would likely have broader consequences." 

UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said he was unaware whether the petition had been presented to any university leaders.

UM is monitoring statewide vaccinations and global coronavirus cases, and continuing to encourage all members of the university community to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Fitzgerald said. He added that the university has worked to make the vaccine available on campus and in partnership with local pharmacies for students and employees. Employees can take time off work to get the vaccine and walk-in clinics are continuing at Michigan Stadium.

"We remain confident that as we progress together toward a residential fall term experience with most classes offered with in-person instruction, we will have a sufficiently high percentage of our community vaccinated," Fitzgerald said. "Encouragement may be more effective than a mandate to achieve the goal of maximizing vaccinations against COVID-19 in the months ahead."

He added that UM's plans for the fall are still evolving.

"We would expect students or employees coming to campus who are not vaccinated will need to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing," Fitzgerald said. "This approach worked well during the winter term with no transmission of the virus in classroom settings."

The petition comes after more than 900 faculty members cast a vote of no confidence in Schlissel in September in part for the administration's handling of the return to campus for fall classes before vaccines were available.

In April, the university announced that students who live in the residence halls this fall must be fully vaccinated and provide proof to the university by July 15. In the most recent semester, 46,170 students were enrolled. But only about 31% of UM students live in the residence halls.

The petition calls the university's plan "nonsensical."

"Students in private housing or students who commute are, as we have known since fall 2020, are just as likely to spread the virus," the petition reads, in reference to a two-week, emergency stay-at-home order for UM students issued last fall by the Washtenaw County Health Department mainly because social gatherings were identified as the main cause of COVID-19 spread on campus, in the surrounding community and region.

The health department also recommended in January that students remain in their residences to curtail the spread of B.1.1.7. variant, a more contagious strain of COVID-19 that was first identified in Washtenaw County and tied to a UM student who had traveled to the United Kingdom.

Fitzgerald explained why the decision was made to require vaccines for students in residence halls.

"We do not require students to live in residence halls, so students who object have other options," he said. "Also, the public health benefits of a vaccinated residence hall community are compelling because of the densely populated conditions of residence-hall living."

The petition notes that 228 colleges and universities nationwide are requiring mandatory vaccination of all students, and said scientific research shows that vaccines lower rates of COVID-19 infections.

"We are concerned that students who refuse to be vaccinated may be overrepresented among our incoming class precisely because we do not mandate vaccination, while students and parents who are concerned about COVID safety would prefer to attend a school with more safety precautions," the petition reads

If UM won't issue a vaccine mandate, the petition requests that instructors have the option to not teach in-person or engage with students during the 2021-22 school year "free of consequences."

It also asks that instructors with household medical exemptions or unvaccinated children also be allowed to opt-out of in-person instruction.

"The second goal of the petition," Modrak said, "is to ensure that any instructor who is unable to teach in person, because of medical conditions or parenting responsibility in the absence of vaccines for younger children, can teach virtually without fearing loss of employment."

kkozlowski@detroitnews.com