The El Camino College Board of Trustees has approved and adopted a new vaccination mandate for all students and employees.
During the Sept. 7 Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting, El Camino College (ECC) President Brenda Thames along with all other BOT members have discussed questions and concerns about what the vaccine mandate will do to all individuals related to ECC.
Employees at ECC must get and show proof of vaccination no later than Nov. 8 and students must do the same by Jan. 3, 2022. There are also exemptions to not get the vaccine, including medical precautions, disability, pregnancy, and religious beliefs, according to the mandate resolution.
Once the new mandate is put into place, different scenarios involving employees and students that don’t get vaccinated can occur.
“I don’t know if we want to speak of them in terms of consequences for employees, we negotiate the effects of the policy. For students, we provide alternatives through online instructional delivery,” Thames said.
Before the adoption of the mandate, the President of the Academic Senate, Darcie McClellan, said during open comment that the Academic Senate (AS) voted on their own mandate, which showed support for an ECC vaccine mandate.
“The vote was 32 for, two against, three abstentions. Our Academic Senate is strongly in favor of this mandate,” McClellan said during the meeting.
McClellan also requested during the meeting that the BOT consider an extension that was a part of the AS mandate, which would require contractors and or visitors coming onto the ECC campus to get or be vaccinated. McClelland told The Union that she wanted this to be looked into at a later time.
“We did not want to hold up the part that was on their agenda over the other kind, so that’s why we said ‘please pass this and then please consider the other later,'” McClellan told The Union.
Multiple BOT members expressed interest in the AS mandate extension, questioning how its implementation into their mandate would work.
A lawyer for the college in attendance said that the current BOT mandate can be passed and that the extension could be reviewed and examined by various campus bodies. Reviews into individuals working in contracts and or public works should be done and appropriate matters should be brought to the next board meeting.
Even though some Trustees worry about the implementation of the vaccine mandate, other Trustees have complete confidence in the creation of the mandate and the team that brought it to life.
“I believe we’ve been asking some really good questions about the community at large, our subcontractors as well, but again I also have a lot of confidence in President Thames and her team to handle that implementation,” Trustee Kenneth Brown said.
Although there are concerns about the future of the college, something that the BOT and President Thames are focusing on is the health and safety of the ECC community.
“This is consistent with what many other colleges are doing and there’s a bottom-line issue, this will save lives. Period. End of story,” Trustee Cliff Numark said.
