Localization Article

By: Lieza Klemm

The New York City Public Schools, the nation’s largest schooling system, has required

all teachers and staff to be vaccinated when the bells rang on Monday, Oct. 4.

After a final decision from the Supreme Court on Oct. 1, unvaccinated teachers and staff

would be placed on unpaid leave. Like New York City Public Schools, schooling systems around

the nation are requiring staff and teachers to be vaccinated in order to work.

Colleges and universities, on the other hand, are requiring both students, staff, and

teachers to be vaccinated, in addition to adding other preventative measures.

Due to in-person classes starting in the fall, Michigan State University placed a COVID-

19 vaccine mandate on students, staff, and professors on July 30, 2021.

In addition to the vaccine mandate, masks were required indoors beginning Aug. 1 in all

campus buildings and other MSU facilities in all MSU locations. Limited exemptions for medical

or religious reasons would be provided.

After an unclear year of online-classes and isolation from peers, MSU students were

overall excited about moving back on-campus for the 2021-22 school year. “Mostly, I was really

excited to be in-person,” Akshitha Karthikeyan, a 18-year-old sophomore at MSU, said. “But

there was a small part of me that was hesitant and apprehensive.”

MSU students seem to be taking the vaccine mandate well. “Most of the people I know

are vaccinated, and were the first to jump in line when they were able to,” Karthikeyan said.

Issues arise when students fail to follow preventative measures, like masks in crowded public

places. “I’ve heard of people getting sick from something going around campus; I don’t think it’s

COVID-19, but something is going around and being spread by those who don’t wear their

masks,” Karthikeyan said.

In terms of in-person classes, both professors and students are comfortable with

meeting in classrooms where everyone is vaccinated. “Right now I feel reasonably comfortable,
based on the fact that we’ve had class for a month an a half,” MSU Assistant Professor of

Journalism Perry Parks said. “I don’t think COVID is spreading that much.”

The vaccine mandate was a relief to some students on campus. “Since President

Stanley’s main field of study was viral disease that relieves some of my anxieties about COVID-

19,” 19-year-old sophomore Madi Vanek said. “I feel he understands the pandemic in a way that

other university presidents would not.”

The difference between New York City’s vaccine mandate for schools and MSU’s

mandate is the age gap. “As a non-parent myself, but as someone who works in a college, the

level of autonomy and maturity distinctly sets a college student apart from an elementary or high

school student,” MSU Academic Specialist Jeana-Dee Allen said.

A college student’s ability to travel and interact with others without the constant-watch of

a parent makes transferring a sickness, COVID-19 or a cold, makes mandatory vaccines more

important on a college campus. “College students obviously want to see their friends and party,

and they aren’t always going to follow the rules in those situations, especially if their peers aren’t

doing it,” Vanek said.

The COVID-19 vaccine has not been approved for children under the age of 12. “As

adults and active citizens, college students, and professors, have a responsibility to others that

children don’t,” Allen said. “It is expected that they consider these conditions. Teachers, college

students, and professors have to shoulder this expectation to protect young kids.”

Many get the vaccine to protect those who are medically unable to be vaccinated. “My

main reason to get vaccinated as soon as possible was to protect a family friend who had

cancer,” Allen said. “They didn’t feel comfortable getting vaccinated with possible unknown

effects from the combination of treatment and the vaccine, so I got it to protect them.”

Karthikeyan shares the same sentiment. “Some of my young cousins can’t get

vaccinated because of their age, and it is important to me that I see them, so that was another

push to get vaccinated,” she said.

 The vaccine has allowed MSU students to live on-campus again. “I was thankful that

President Stanley thought we were at an appropriate part in the pandemic to return to in-person,

as MSU was one of the only schools to go majority online last year,” Vanek said. “I was nervous

thinking about the surge of cases that schools like the University of Michigan and Grand Valley

State University had last year, but a majority of these nerves subsided when the vaccine

mandate was put into place.”

Source List (by mention)

Sophomore Akshitha Karthikeyan, karthik4@msu.edu

Assistant Professor of Journalism Perry Parks, parksp@msu.edu

Sophomore Madi Vanek, vanekmad@msu.edu

Academic Specialist Jeana-Dee Allen, allenjea@msu.edu