Johnson & Wales, JCSU will require students be vaccinated ahead of fall semester

CHARLOTTE — Students enrolled in courses at Johnson & Wales University and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte will have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before stepping on campus for the fall semester.

Johnson & Wales announced last Tuesday that, “after careful consultation with government and public health officials,” it will require all students to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to their arrival to campus for the fall semester.

“Adding the COVID-19 vaccination to our student immunization requirements will aid our efforts to provide a safer and more robust college experience for our entire JWU community,” said JWU Charlotte Campus President Cheryl Richards, Ph.D. “Through widespread vaccination, we hope to return to a more traditional college experience, including seamless delivery of in-person courses, more on-campus events and activities, and resuming our on-campus visitor and guest policy. We look forward to more normal times as the JWU community and those around us become fully vaccinated.”

School officials said special consideration would be given to students asking for an exemption from the vaccination requirement for medical, religious or other reasons.

Students enrolled in fully remote online degree programs and those participating in online-only continuing education programs will not be required to be vaccinated unless they come to campus to use the dining, library, fitness center, and other facilities and services.

The university said it still strongly encourages all staff and faculty, especially those whose work requires them to be on campus, to be vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible.

In March, the university announced its intention to return to full operations in the fall, inviting all students back to campus, with courses being offered in-person as well as through hybrid delivery.

JCSU officials released the following announcement:

“As we prepare to return to campus this fall, Johnson C. Smith University will require that you arrive fully vaccinated. In order to return to campus for the fall 2021 semester, two or more weeks will need to have passed, after you received either the one or two-shot options.”

Nadia Johnson is a junior at JCSU. She’s been learning virtually this past year and is excited to see everyone back on campus in the fall.

“It’s going to feel amazing,” she said. “I believe that they are making the best decision, just like they did to not have us come back on campus in the first place, so they’re taking our safety, faculty and staff safety, into consideration.”

JCSU president Clarence Armbrister said the university has been cautious since the beginning of the pandemic.

“We believe that it’s really important to make the community as safe as possible,” he said.

He admitted that not everyone agrees with the mandated vaccines, however.

“There’s never unanimity in issues around things like this,” he said. “We’ve gotten a couple of letters from some concerned students and we are going to try and address those letters. One thing to keep in mind is that we do allow for some exceptions.”

Armbrister said COVID-19 testing will continue as well.

“We test faculty and staff here every two weeks, and we will continue testing protocol throughout the fall to make sure that we get ahead of it.”

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