By Jackson Chadwick | Image courtesy of Jackson Chadwick
On Thursday, April 9th, the Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution expressing support for a vaccination mandate to be implemented for students returning to campus in the fall. “A Resolution Pertaining to the Mandate of the COVID-19 Vaccination at Suffolk University’s Boston Campus” was passed by a vote of 13 to 7, with 5 abstentions. The resolution stated that students with medical and/or religious restrictions may be exempt from a vaccination mandate policy barring approval from the University or the Counseling Health and Wellness (CHW) department.
The resolution, sponsored by Senators Marissa Kearney, Kostas Loukos, Stephen Rykola, and Stephen Merrick, garnered support among many SGA members. But, following questioning from CHW Director of Medical Operations Tracey Allen, senators were split on whether to vote for the resolution that day or postpone it until the following week. Allen, who is also a nurse practitioner, fielded many questions from SGA before the resolution was voted on.
Some senators determined that not enough time had elapsed for the student body to review the resolution’s contents. The resolution was brought to the floor following a survey conducted from March 30th to April 6th. The survey only reflected a 14% engagement among Suffolk students, a 40 percent decrease in participation from the recent SGA elections. 42.8 percent of respondents said that a vaccination mandate should be required; 30.4 percent said that a mandate should be required (but with medical and religious exemptions); while 25.5 percent said no mandate should be required.
Among the respondents, less than 6 percent indicated that they were international students. This figure is far below the nearly 22 percent of international students (a figure as of 2018) who attend Suffolk.
Senator Yasmine Tebib raised concerns that international students did not have enough time to review the resolution, nor was the outreach effort to international students adequate. Multiple members echoed Tebib’s concerns, while others, such as Senator and co-author of the resolution, Kostas Loukos, urged for its immediate passage:
“If we keep kicking the can down the road, we’ll always find another reason not to vote for it next week,” Kostas said, elaborating on how it wouldn’t be “fair” to Suffolk students.
Despite late concerns, the resolution was passed in one of the closest votes in SGA this school year. The University will ultimately decide whether to implement a vaccination mandate policy or not. Northeastern University decided last week that all students will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine before returning to campus for the fall semester. Other Boston-area schools may follow suit, while others could wait until the summer to make a final decision.