When the Biden administration issued an executive order saying federal contractors must be vaccinated against Covid-19, it was meant to apply widely. The order requires not only people directly paid by federal contracts, but also anyone who works to support them and anyone with whom they come into contact to get a Covid vaccine. It’s easy to imagine nearly every employee at a research university falling under such an umbrella.
Nevertheless, some universities are trying to apply the rule as narrowly as possible, in deference to the opposition to vaccination that they say they know exists among their employees.
Last week, Randy Boyd, the president of the University of Tennessee system, told reporters that leaders are looking “campus by campus, building by building, and then position by position, to see who’s covered” by the federal rule. A similar outlook has taken hold in Texas: “We will endeavor to comply with federal vaccine requirements for specific, covered individuals to protect these investments in our state,” Karen Adler, a spokesperson for the University of Texas System, told The Texas Tribune. And on Monday, East Carolina University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill each made similar announcements, saying that they’re taking a “measured approach” and that they’ve identified a limited number of employees who must be vaccinated.
This narrower approach contrasts with several institutions that have said they’ve interpreted federal guidance to mean that every employee must be vaccinated. In recent days, Rutgers University, the University of Alabama, Auburn University, and the public-college system in Mississippi, among other institutions, all reached that same conclusion.
Some campuses’ departure from that interpretation invites questions about how they will separate their covered employees from not-covered ones. In an era when Covid-19 mitigation measures have become highly politicized, public colleges in particular are undertaking a tense balancing act between the wishes of different employees, state politicians, and the federal government.
At East Carolina, leaders have identified about 100 employees, out of a work force of about 5,500, who must be vaccinated against Covid-19 because of their work related to federal contracts, said Michael Van Scott, interim vice chancellor for research. Many of them may be vaccinated already — the university has not yet been able to check their “covered employees” list against their vaccination records. Altogether, these 100 employees work on $8-million worth of qualifying federal contracts.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did not answer an emailed query about how many employees officials have found are covered. N.C. State did not yet know. The university has more than $360 million in federal contracts, according to an email that Randy Woodson, the chancellor, sent employees, while Chapel Hill claims $160 million in contracts.
Van Scott acknowledged that the North Carolina universities’ approach differs from others elsewhere in the country. “There are different systems that have said all employees will be vaccinated,” he said, “because how do you document that someone walking across campus doesn’t come in contact with that federal contractor, right?” Still, he said: “The UNC system is taking a somewhat cautious approach to this.”
“It comes back to that sensitivity around the individuals that have concerns about being mandated to be vaccinated at this point,” he said. “We’re trying to find a way to do this that respects people’s different opinions on the vaccine, but at the same time, be able to show that we are making a real effort to comply with this mandate.”
The University of Tennessee system is walking the same fine line. “We’re really working hard to make sure that we meet the letter of the law, but also are as compassionate, as accommodating as we can be to our employees,” Boyd, the system’s president, said during a call with reporters on Friday.
That accommodation includes accepting applications for religious exemptions to the mandate “at face value,” Boyd said. “If you attest that you have this belief, then we take you at your word.” Medical exemptions must be accompanied by a doctor’s note. In addition, Boyd said: “In every case when someone has an exemption, we will find them a way to continue to work at the University of Tennessee.”
Legal experts say it will be difficult to apply the federal-contracting rule to only some people on a campus.
“You know the way campuses are designed, physically. They’re open. That really reflects the culture of higher ed: information exchange and exchange of intellectual discourse on campus,” said Steven M. Bloom, assistant vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education, an advocacy group for colleges. “How do you segregate a parking lot to ensure that there is never going to be any contact between an employee who is covered by the contract and one who isn’t? Or, like, a cafeteria?”
“The rule, as I’ve seen interpreted and basically forthcoming in regards to application, it’s meant to be a wide swath,” said James G. Hodge Jr., an expert in public-health law at Arizona State University. “It’s meant to capture a lot of persons. It’s not meant for a piecemeal sort of application.”
At East Carolina University, Van Scott said leaders are considering as an option having some buildings be for vaccinated employees only. However they still need to gather information on who on covered projects is already vaccinated. Possibly some projects are already almost or fully compliant.
It is also possible that East Carolina will eventually find all employees need to be vaccinated, Van Scott said. “It’s a broad executive order,” he said.
In the meantime, as universities struggle with implementing the vaccine mandate, the December 8 deadline for complying with Biden’s order is coming up fast. In their announcements, the North Carolina universities note that for employees to be fully vaccinated in time, those who get the Moderna shot must receive their first dose by Wednesday, October 27.
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