exas State Faculty Senate debated the possibility of a campus-wide COVID-19 vaccination mandate at its Oct. 13 meeting, following Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest executive order, which bans private and public entities for requiring COVID-19 vaccines.
According to a Senate member involved in the university’s COVID-19 workgroup, the idea of a campus-wide vaccine mandate had never been brought up for discussion even prior to Abbott’s order.
Because of the recent order, Faculty Senate Chair Lynn Ledbetter said the Senate probably won’t be able to do anything regarding vaccinations.
Senate members compared COVID-19 vaccinations to required university Meningitis vaccines. Taylor Acee, Senate member and associate professor in the developmental education program, mentioned one of the differences between a COVID-19 vaccine and a Meningitis vaccine is that booster shots are predicted to be needed with the COVID-19 vaccine.
Ledbetter agreed and said taking action could be doubtful until the Senate has more answers and guidance on how to approach the situation.
“Until it becomes some sort of national law or requirement, then we’re probably just not going to have any luck with something like that,” Ledbetter said.
Members also examined how Faculty Senate would make a transition back to in-person meetings and how it could include non-senate guests. Some suggested that if a member didn’t feel comfortable attending in person, they could send a representative from their college instead. Ledbetter asked that the Senate continue to think of solutions that include everyone for when they return to face-to-face meetings.
University department liaisons will meet with the Faculty Senate to solicit feedback and concerns from the Senate on Oct. 12.