UNC System to campuses: Have your employees get vaccinated or test them regularly

Martha Quillin
·2 min read

UNC System schools should tell their employees they must get vaccinated against COVID-19 or they’ll have to get tested regularly to prevent the spread of illness, System President Peter Hans said Thursday.

In an announcement addressed to UNC System chancellors posted on the system’s website, Hans noted that students already have been asked to attest whether they have been vaccinated. Those who haven’t received the vaccine or prefer not to say whether they have must submit to regular testing.

“Chancellors should exercise their administrative authority over personnel at their institutions by putting a ‘get vaccinated or get tested regularly’ measure in place for their faculty and staff.” Hans wrote. “I think it’s reasonable, both for public health and for leadership by example, to ask our faculty and staff to comply with the same protective measures we are asking of our students.”

The current plan is to test weekly, but on Wednesday, UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Robert Blouin said the frequency of testing could be adjusted depending on the spread of illness.

In a meeting with campus faculty Wednesday, Blouin said that at UNC-Chapel Hill, vaccination rates among students and faculty are relatively high. The rate for staff is lower, Blouin said.

During that meeting, the UNC-CH Faculty Executive Committee passed a resolution in support of requiring employees to say whether they have been vaccinated.

Blouin said it was his understanding that individual campuses within the UNC System could not require students or employees to get vaccinated, but could require them to attest whether they have been vaccinated and could require them to get tested. Those who have a documented medical condition or bonafide religious objection could opt out of the vaccine.

Fall classes will resume this month at campuses throughout the system.. Masks will be required inside most educational spaces, though furniture has been returned to pre-pandemic configurations, with no social-distancing built in.

The UNC System has 242,000 students and more than 48,000 employees across 17 campuses.