Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: A majority of the Mississippi State University Senate Faculty voted to call on the administration to implement a campus-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

But the MSU administration says it has "no authority to mandate the vaccine." That's unclear.
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MSU Provost David Shaw: "I received something from a faculty member talking about the ‘toxicity’ of the vaccine. I had a conversation with a parent who said, ‘I will withdraw my student if you can’t promise me that you will never require the vaccine.'"
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MSU Provost Shaw on COVID vaccines: “That’s the pull and tug. ... What seems reasonable to one person seems completely unreasonable to another.”

Professor Sol Pelaez: “But we're a university, a research one, and we have to be on the side of science." mississippifreepress.org/15876/msu-sena…

Dr. Pelaez told Provost Shaw that mandating vaccines at games and dorms should be "the minimum" MSU does to keep students safe.

“Again, your definition of minimum & other people’s definition of minimum probably is different,” Shaw replied.mississippifreepress.org/15876/msu-sena…

MSU Provost David Shaw: "The university finds itself in a situation trying to find, and visiting with the medical community here in our state, trying to find a middle ground (on COVID-19 vaccines) that is as safe as we can reasonably expect.”mississippifreepress.org/15876/msu-sena…

Provost Shaw claims that the Mississippi IHL Board's Aug. 27 vote not to mandate vaccines at the state's universities and colleges prevents MSU from acting alone.

But the IHL vote did not explicitly say it prohibited universities from doing so themselves.
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The two physicians on The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning provided the only dissenting votes after urging their fellow trustees to support a vaccine requirement.

But other IHL members cited fears of lower enrollment.
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Despite the MSU president and provost's claims that the administration has no authority to mandate the vaccine, faculty leaders forged ahead anyway, adopting the vaccine mandate resolution in a 20-to-15 vote.
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The MSU resolution: “...The Faculty Senate of the Mississippi State University calls on the administration...in an emergency capacity to formally petition the (IHL) to initiate a university-wide vaccine mandate for all faculty, students, and staff..." mississippifreepress.org/15876/msu-sena…

During his remarks, Shaw revealed that 56% of MSU students and 77% of employees surveyed had been vaccinated for COVID-19.

Shaw: “All the efforts you are making to make sure everyone does receive the vaccine and protect themselves are really paying off."
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Before Friday’s vote at the Starkville campus, the University of Mississippi Faculty Senate similarly voted 54-to-6 to call on the Oxford university’s leaders to instate a COVID vaccine mandate there. The UM administration has since taken no action.mississippifreepress.org/15620/universi…

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