Despite backlash, Indiana University will 'stay the course' on vaccine policy

Despite some public backlash, an online petition, a planned rally and criticism from the state’s attorney general, Indiana University officials say the school will “stay the course” on its COVID-19 vaccination policy — in part because it can avoid testing expenses of $10 million.

Kirk White, the university’s assistant vice president for strategic partnerships, said the policy, which requires all students, staff and faculty to be vaccinated before the fall semester, will allow the campus to return to normal, including the hosting of large events.

It also will mean not having to conduct mitigation tests, which will save the university more than $10 million, he said. Instead, IU will conduct surveillance testing to detect potential outbreaks.

The policy, announced May 21, has generated some backlash, including:

• Nineteen Republic legislators have asked Gov. Eric Holcomb to prohibit state universities from mandating vaccines that don’t have full U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
• Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said IU may require COVID-19 vaccinations but can’t force students or employees to provide proof of immunization.
• A change.org petition that asked IU to retract its policy has received more than 10,000 signatures. While such petitions can be signed by anyone, it does appear to have some prominent support, including from Dr. Darin Mangiacarne, who served on former Gov. Mike Pence’s drug task force. Mangiacarne wrote that there is no reason to compel the vaccine in young, healthy people.
• A group calling itself “The IU Family for Consent, not Mandates” has called for a “Rally for Medical Freedom” at the Indiana Memorial Union at 1 p.m. June 10. 

White said the university, as a public institution, will listen carefully to public input, but, he said, “I don’t think there will be much tweaking.”

“We think we’re on firm ground,” he said.

White also said IU studied the issue carefully over the last two months and ran into complicated issues.

For example, a vaccinated student enrolled at IU and staying in student housing may not want to room with an unvaccinated student, he said.

IU spokesman Chuck Carney told The Herald-Times vial email the university expected some backlash.

“We always knew there would be a very high level of interest in the matter and that we’d need to explain to our constituents,” he said. “We’ll have more in the coming days, but right now we're just focused on moving forward with the vaccine requirement and getting things back to mostly normal in the fall.”

While the IU officials said the university has fielded inquiries — both positive and negative — from faculty and potential students, it was not expecting any significant impact on staffing or enrollment.

White said the university was still tabulating pandemic-related costs and may not get state or federal reimbursements for all expenses. Given the mitigation costs and negative effects on its research and teaching missions, he said requiring vaccinations made sense on many levels.

“I’m convinced we’ll come out better,” he said.

Carney also said he is not aware of any lawsuits that have been filed on the matter nor whether the university submitted any public records requested by Jim Bopp, attorney for the group behind the planned June 10 rally.

Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill on Friday praised IU for its vaccination policy, with Hamilton calling it a “very significant step to make our community safer.”

Caudill said, “If you want life to get more normal … then be vaccinated.”

Faculty support

John Walbridge, co-chair of the University Faculty Council, told The Herald-Times via email that IU's vaccination policy is receiving strong support from the university's faculty.

The faculty council's executive committee said in a statement emailed to the Herald-Times that it fully supports IU's decision to require COVID-19 vaccinations.

"We agree that this is the safest and most effective way to allow the University to fully return to an in-person residential campus and thus give students the full experience that they expect of Indiana University," the statement read.

Walbridge, a professor in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, said that while the council has not been in session, all of the informal discussion on the council's listserve has been "strongly supportive of the mandate."

"There has been informal discussion by faculty leaders with administrators for some months about whether vaccination would be required, not about whether vaccination should be required, which everyone seemed to agree on, but about whether there would be any legal or practical obstacles to doing so," Walbridge said. "If there is faculty opposition to the vaccine mandate, I have not heard of it. This is the more surprising since the policy allows faculty members to be terminated -- tenure notwithstanding --if they are unwilling to be vaccinated."

Leaders of IU’s student government and the IU staff union, the CWA Local 4818, could not be reached. White said the university has sought input from a broad range of university constituencies but he could not say specifically whether officials had consulted with the faculty council or student government.

However, some IU professors, including Charles Trzcinka, the James and Virginia Cozad Professor of Finance at the university’s Kelley School of Business, have criticized the policy publicly.

“I am vaccinated and think most people should be. But I also think it is reasonable to be ‘vaccine hesitant’ if somebody has had COVID-19,” Trzcinka said in an email. “Some doctors are recommending that their patients who have had COVID-19 not get the vaccine until some time after their infection (the time varies).

“I also think that young women who are planning to be pregnant need to investigate the vaccines and make an informed choice,” Trzcinka said. “It is not irrational for young women to be concerned.”

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledge that data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for people who are pregnant is “limited,” studies in animals found “no safety concerns.” The agency also warned that pregnant people are at “increased risk for severe illness” if they become infected with COVID-19.

IU officials said Friday that there is no indication that the vaccines pose any danger to women who are or plan to become pregnant. The university has yet to release details on its exemption policy, which officials have said will be narrow.

Nonetheless, Trzcinka said, “I hope that IU allows its staff and students a broader set of exemptions from the vaccine. Purdue has done so but will be testing people very frequently who do not vaccinate. IU could follow this policy.”

However, Walbridge said that the faculty council has been "proud of how well IU has handled the pandemic, which is one reason for the support that the faculty is giving the administration on this issue, though of course we think the vaccination mandate is the right decision."