Ohio University Ends Vaccine Mandate?

Beginning with Summer Semester 2022, Ohio University will no longer require COVID-19 vaccination for Ohio University employees and non-residential students.

Students in dorms will continue to be illegally required to receive an experimental Emergency Authorized Vaccine (EUA) that Ohio University knowingly misleads people to believe is a different FDA approved vaccine to attend school.

Also according to OU: “Some experiential learning program partners, including clinical placement sites and study abroad programs and destinations, have COVID-19 vaccination requirements that students, faculty, and staff must meet to participate. Nonclinical students with experiential learning placements in clinical settings must also comply with program partners’ COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Requirements may include documenting proof of vaccination or going through an exemption process. Not complying with program partners’ COVID-19 vaccination requirements could prevent individuals from fulfilling academic and professional objectives.“

As for testing: “At this time, the University does not plan to conduct regular COVID-19 testing of students, faculty, or staff, during Summer Semester 2022 or during the 2022-23 academic year. However, students, faculty, and staff participating in certain experiential learning activities may be required to comply with testing requirements based on the program or site. Antigen tests will continue to be available for students, faculty, and staff on all campuses, and upon request for groups. A limited number of Vault Health at-home PCR tests are also available.”

Ohio University finishes this announcement with the standard cut and paste “COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective…”.

What now?

Residential students are going to be required to be vaccinated just for living on campus in dorms, while non-residential students and employees are not required to be vaccinated, despite the fact that all of these people will be using and sharing the same campus facilities. Whether you think the vaccine blocks 100% of COVID or if you think the vaccine kills 100% of people who take it, everyone can agree this policy makes no sense and is anti-science

	Vaccine Required In Dorms?	Vaccine Required In Class?	Vaccine Required on Campus?
Residential Student	✔	✔	✔
Non-Residential Student	✘	✘	✘
Employees	✘	✘	✘

If OU was really worried about the unvaccinated catching COVID in dorms than they would at least require employees who work in the dorms to be vaccinated. Obviously all students and staff share the same spaces anyways. (Maybe OU thinks only people who live in dorms can get COVID, that’d explain it right?)

So why is Ohio University discriminating against residential students and making them take an EUA vaccine? It’s about control, Ohio University and Gillian Ice have admitted they have more a better “ability to influence students” decisions when they are on campus.

OU knows they can bully on-campus students the easiest, which is why we saw even people who did follow protocol get locked out of their dorms in the winter. OU is not willing to fully give up this new form of control they have discovered. Left untreated this system of bullying students into submission will expand past a COVID vaccine. Once it’s students caught out on Court Street or at Fest’s being barred from their dorm because of attending dangerous “super spreader events” then everyone will agree the school’s control system has gone too far. Thankfully our lawsuit seeks to stop further abuses of power and human rights violations at Ohio University before we are too far down the slippery slope of government overreach.