How the COVID-19 Na­tional Man­dates Af­fect Bethel

MISHAWAKA—New fed­eral man­dates have been re­leased that fed­eral work­ers and con­trac­tors are re­quired to re­ceive the vac­cine. This poses ques­tions about what is re­quired of schools na­tion­wide, as well as lo­cally. 

Ac­cord­ing to the As­so­ci­ated Press, over half of the largest pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties are not re­quir­ing vac­ci­na­tions for stu­dents to re­turn to cam­pus this fall. The As­so­ci­ated Press pub­lished a story (Sept. 15, 2021) about how col­leges are han­dling vac­cine man­dates; some be­ing le­nient while oth­ers ex­pel stu­dents who don't com­ply with their rules. Many schools are hold­ing raf­fles or other in­cen­tives to en­cour­age stu­dents to get vac­ci­nated. 

In our lo­cal area, many uni­ver­si­ties, ac­cord­ing to their re­spec­tive web­sites, are re­quir­ing stu­dents to be fully vac­ci­nated or have an ap­proved ex­emp­tion be­fore ar­riv­ing on cam­pus, in­clud­ing Notre Dame, In­di­ana Uni­ver­sity South Bend and Goshen Col­lege. Ex­emp­tions mainly in­clude re­li­gious or med­ical ex­emp­tions.

In an email from Julie Beam, Dean of Stu­dents, it was ex­plained that In­terim Pres­i­dent  Belle­feuille, Ed. D., M. Ed., B. S.., and some cab­i­net mem­bers met to dis­cuss what Bethel’s next steps are go­ing to be and how this new man­date will af­fect our cam­pus. 

There is a slight de­lay in be­tween when fed­eral man­dates are re­leased, to when smaller cam­puses like Bethel will im­ple­ment what­ever reg­u­la­tions they de­cide to put in place, based on what is rec­om­mended. 

“Our cam­pus lead­er­ship is likely to con­sult with other uni­ver­sity coali­tions such as the CCCU (Coun­cil for Chris­t­ian Col­leges & Uni­ver­si­ties) and the ICI (In­de­pen­dent Col­leges of In­di­ana) who help us think well about how we op­er­ate as a Chris­t­ian uni­ver­sity in our state and in our coun­try,” Beam said. 

As far as Bethel’s cur­rent sta­tus, be­ing in the yel­low stage means we are at mod­er­ate risk re­gard­ing the virus. All stu­dents, staff and fac­ulty are re­quired to wear masks in­doors on cam­pus and though vac­ci­na­tion is rec­om­mended for com­mu­nity mem­bers, Bethel is not re­quir­ing stu­dents or staff to be vac­ci­nated to be on cam­pus.