Colleges, students respond to end of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID vaccine mandate

When the new school year starts this fall, whether Illinois college students and faculty will be surrounded by vaccinated classmates and colleagues will largely depend on where they are enrolled.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced an end to a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for college students and faculty, essentially leaving the policy up to individual schools. On Thursday, some local colleges and universities were still grappling with the decision, while others came down on opposite sides.

Pritzker announced the move — along with other policy changes meant to “carefully unwind” COVID-19 policies and mandates that have been in place throughout the pandemic — despite growing concerns about new coronavirus variants that appear more able to evade immunity.

Northwestern University plans to push forward with its already announced vaccine mandate for the upcoming academic year, but “will continue to adapt (their) own policies and protocols following the advice of public health and (their) own medical experts,” according to a university spokesperson.

This was a relief to Zoe Lewis, a rising sophomore at the university.

“People don’t mask on campus, like they should — especially in classes,” Lewis said. “People are in econ classes with 300-person lectures. And to have the possibility of not only people in there not being masked, but people in there not having vaccines on top of it, is going to cause widespread havoc in communities with these colleges.”

Lewis has asthma and stressed how critical vaccine mandates can be for the health of immunocompromised students on college campuses. Despite Northwestern’s decision to continue with its vaccine mandate, Lewis noted a sense of “anxiety” over returning to Northwestern’s campus without a mask mandate.

Northwestern continues to “strongly recommend” that its affiliates wear masks in spaces where “distancing is not possible when transmission levels are elevated.”

“Not having mask mandates or vaccine mandates typically ... would be fine for college students because typically they are the ones least affected by it, but it’s extremely isolating to any immunocompromised students who have no other choice but to protect themselves and it makes students not able to join social activities, class activities, be ready to go to in person things,” she said.

Meanwhile, Northern Illinois University will not be requiring the vaccine for the upcoming school year, but “strongly encourages” students and faculty and staff members to be vaccinated, a university spokesperson said.

The University of Illinois system hadn’t made a decision yet on Thursday regarding the vaccine policy on its three campuses, saying in a statement that it is still evaluating “how the updated COVID-19-mitigation requirements will impact our three universities.”

“The health and well being of the people on our campuses will drive our decisions,” the statement read.

Among schools that have not yet announced a policy were the University of Chicago and DePaul University, which said it was still considering its plans for the upcoming school year.

Columbia College in Chicago plans to continue to require students and faculty members to be vaccinated, said Lambrini Lukidis, a spokesperson for the college.

“I think we’ve been a little bit stricter with some of our COVID mitigations,” Lukidis said.

Part of what drives the decision, she said, is the type of instruction at Columbia College, which is primarily theater, music and dance and other arts.

“We feel that having the vaccine is an added precaution for our campus community,” she said.

Loyola University and Roosevelt University also said officials plan to require vaccines for students, faculty and staff during the upcoming year.

Pritzker’s tweaks to pandemic rules come in the wake of complaints and lawsuits by conservatives claiming the governor overstepped his authority. Many of the legal challenges to the rules were filed by attorney Thomas DeVore, who is now the Republican nominee for attorney general, though all of those lawsuits have ultimately been unsuccessful.