Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday blocked a new Arizona State University policy that would have required unvaccinated students to submit to twice-weekly COVID-19 testing and wear a mask, calling the decision “bad policy.”
The Republican governor issued an executive order saying students at the state’s public universities and community colleges can’t be required to get the vaccine, submit vaccination documents, be tested, or forced to wear masks.
ASU and the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s three public universities, said they would comply with Ducey’s order. An ASU statement noted that it never issued a vaccine mandate but was following guidelines for universities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by ensuring that unvaccinated people continue to follow protocols like masking.
“The CDC recognizes the unique environments of institutions of higher learning; the ASU student population includes people from all 50 states and more than 130 countries,” the statement said.
But the governor also included a screenshot of a quote from the CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, that appeared to contradict his own position.
“The science demonstrates that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected,” Walensky is quoted as saying. “It is the people who are not fully vaccinated in those settings, who might not be wearing a mask, who are not protected.”
In an interview with KTAR radio before Ducey’s executive order was issued, ASU President Michael Crow said he believes the governor and other critics of the policy may have misinterpreted it, calling it essentially an extension of current rules that say vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks in most cases.
“I think what happened here was some people thought that we were requiring vaccinations, initially, which we weren’t,” Crow said. “I think that’s just gotten some people very upset, and hopefully they’ll take a closer look at it.”
Crow said the university has been consistently pushing for a full return to in-person learning and is not requiring COVID-19 vaccines as many universities are doing.
“We’re allowing freedom of choice,” Crow said. “So we expect vaccinations, but if you don’t get vaccinated, then you’ve got to follow CDC guidelines for institutions of higher education, which are quite clear.”
The ASU policy, sent to students last week by Vice President of Student Services Joanne Vogel and posted online Monday, said the university expected students to get a vaccine since they are now widely available and are “highly effective at preventing COVID-19 infection and reducing the spread of the virus.”
It had said students who do not provide proof of vaccination would have had to wear a mask indoors and outdoors, submit to twice-weekly virus testing and do a daily online health check.
Ducey reacted by saying the vaccine works but is a choice and calling public education a right that taxpayers are paying for.
“This policy is social engineering at its worst,” Ducey tweeted. “Health policy should be based on science, not virtue signaling. In America, freedom wins.”
He announced that Republican state Sen. T.J. Shope will introduce legislation to make his executive order a law. Shope and other GOP lawmakers had tweeted that they opposed the ASU rules.
GOP Rep. Travis Grantham called the policy “ discriminatory and onerous” and called on the university to immediately rescind it. He said he would propose withholding funding from ASU if the policy remained.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
