LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon University is taking a cautious approach to deciding if it will require students, teachers and staff to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Oregon State University in Corvallis and University of Oregon in Eugene have announced they will require students coming to their campus in the fall to have been vaccinated. And officials with Western Oregon University on Monday, May 10, announced students and employees will need to have the vaccinations if they study or work in person at the university’s Monmouth or Salem campuses for the fall term.
Tim Seydel, Eastern’s vice president for University Advancement, said the setting of Oregon’s Rural University means it does not have to follow in the steps of the state’s larger universities on the western side of Oregon.
“We’re in a different environment,” he said. “We were able to have in-person classes starting in the fall.”
With perhaps the exception of Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Eastern is relatively isolated and small.
Tens of thousands of students each attend Portland State University, OSU and U of O in population centers where it is easier to encounter and spread a virus. Students at Eastern, for example, don’t take mass transit to get to campus. And Eastern has about 3,100 students and more than 400 employees. That’s far smaller than the state’s flagship university in Eugene, which boasts an enrollment closer to 23,000 and employs more than 1,000 people.
But before deciding on requiring vaccinations for COVID-19, Seydel said EOU wants feedback on the matter from students and staff. And the university is rolling out a survey to all students and employees to give their takes on a vaccination requirement.
He said the survey is simple and will be available online at key portals for faculty, staff and students until sometime next week.
“We want to have a good, thorough review before making the call on requiring vaccinations,” Seydel said.
Eastern has been taking steps to curtail the spread of the virus all school year, starting with the mass testing of students last fall and again in the spring. EOU on May 4 hosted a COVID-19 vaccination clinic that drew almost 100 students, faculty and staff to the La Grande campus to receive their first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Just how many students are vaccinated is hard to say, though.
“We’re not privy to that (personal) health information,” Seydel said.
The clinic came about because of the relationship EOU has with the Center for Human Development Inc., the public health arm of Union County. Seydel said he and others have longstanding relationships with the staff and leaders at the center, and working with people you know and trust during a crisis makes a difference.
While there was a good turnout for the vaccination clinic, Seydel said there is vaccine hesitancy on campus, and the Student Health Center at Eastern stepped up to help students better understand the vaccinations. The center has held Zoom meetings so students could get answers to their questions about the vaccines.
Some of the hesitancy may be coming from misinformation, he said, but students want to know about the vaccines and what getting vaccinated could mean for them.
In addition to the survey, Seydel said the EOU faculty union has discussed vaccinations and vaccination requirements, and the administration is in the process of talking to the University Council, the body that represents all students and staff, as well as to student government.
Seydel said there is a lot to contemplate when determining whether to require a vaccination, and EOU will gather all the feedback and carefully consider the issue before reaching a determination. He said it’s possible a decision will be made by the end of the month.
One thing the university knows already, he said, is students want to be in classes and to be able to go to activities.
“Our students have made that clear,” he said. “They would like to be on campus.”