Fine line divides local public and private universities on vaccine requirements

A fine line is dividing public and private universities in the region with regard to vaccine mandates.

While private universities including Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Seton Hill and Duquesne are requiring vaccinations for those on campus this fall, public universities here are stopping short of adopting mandates that state lawmakers — who control the purse strings — tried to prohibit.

The University of Pittsburgh, a quasi-public university that receives subsidies through the state budget every year, was the latest school to weigh in.

In a letter to the university community last week, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher carefully threaded the needle as he announced a new set of policies. Following up on a policy announced earlier this summer that students who can provide proof of vaccination will be eligible for raffles that include scholarships among other prizes, Gallagher reiterated Pitt will not require vaccines for those on campus.

But the university is not neutral on the issue.

“Vaccines are a game changer,” Gallagher wrote.

Those who do not disclose covid-19 vaccine status to Pitt, he said, will be assumed to be unvaccinated and subject to specific virus control requirements.

“Failure to comply with any required virus control measure may result in disciplinary action, including the loss of access to university buildings and activities,” Gallagher said.

Students living on Pitt campuses who have not provided proof of being vaccinated will be required to provide negative covid-19 tests before arrival. Other requirements for those in that category include mandatory virus testing that could be scheduled as often as once a week; contact tracing to identify potential exposure; and quarantine if exposed or infected.

Gallagher said Pitt will provide additional information on how students can provide confidential information on their vaccine status to the university later this summer. He said Pitt intends to be very specific about its requirements and noted even universities with vaccines mandates are providing exemptions for religious and medical reasons.

Colleges and universities have received conflicting signals on the issue.

The American College Health Association, which represents health and wellness officers at 550 colleges and universities across the nation, in April recommended schools offering in-person learning adopt vaccine requirements for all students this fall.

Although many schools hosted vaccine clinics, vaccine requirements remain a dicey issue for public colleges and universities even as recent reports show covid-19 infections and hospitalization rates are on edging upward, fueled largely by the spread of the highly contagious delta variant among the unvaccinated.

In Pennsylvania, a law prohibiting vaccine mandates at state agencies and universities that receive state subsidies split both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature along party lines. The prohibitions passed with a nod from the Republican majority but failed to become law with a veto from Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who strongly supports vaccines.

And Pennsylvania universities aren’t interpreting a federal court ruling that upheld a vaccine requirement at Indiana University’s Bloomington campus as a green light for mandates. The New York Times reported many expect the ruling will be appealed.

To date, Penn State, which like Pitt receives state subsidies every year, also has stopped short of requiring vaccinations. But like Pitt, the sprawling land grant university offered incentives to those who provide proof of vaccination and made it clear that vaccination strongly is encouraged.

The 14 state-owned universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education are in another category altogether with regard to vaccines. They are subject to the whims of state lawmakers and can require only those vaccinations expressly permitted by law. The PASSHE universities, which include California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock in Western Pennsylvania, are permitted to require only the meningitis vaccine for those in campus housing.

But like Pitt and Penn State, they are making it clear that officials are strongly encouraging those on campus to be vaccinated.