Brown University has joined a small but growing number of American colleges and universities to vaccinate students COVID-19 before attending classes in person and participating in other activities on campus.
Brown President Christina Paxson announced in a letter on Tuesday that all students from Ivy League School will be welcomed back to campus this fall and invited to live in the university’s Providence, Rhode Island residence, provided they are vaccinated word.
The university has not yet implemented a system to verify students’ vaccination status, but further information will be provided during the summer, Paxson said. It is also decided to develop COVID-19 vaccines for brown employees.
The Northeastern University of Boston, Massachusetts, also requires that students returning to personal learning for the fall semester be fully vaccinated on the first day of class. The university’s goal is to vaccinate the maximum number of members of the community to establish herd immunity on campus, Northeast Chancellor Ken Henderson said this week.
Northeastern said it would announce “in the coming days” what the school needs proof of vaccination. According to Massachusetts law, university students must already provide proof of vaccination against measles, meningitis and other infectious viruses.
Cornell University, Fort Lewis College, Nova Southeastern University, Roger Williams University, Rutgers University and St. Edwards University also needs COVID-19 shots for students who want to return to campus in the fall.
Legal experts believe that these institutions are well under their legal rights to require returning students to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, although schools are required by law to grant exemptions for medical and religious beliefs and offers other reasonable accommodation.
It is not yet clear whether vaccinated individuals will be required to wear masks in Brown and Northeastern. But if all goes according to plan, this year’s fall semester will look much more like the fall of 2019 than the fall of 2020, Paxson said in her letter.