LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Dozens of public universities around the country have started requiring COVID-19 vaccines for employees following President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates for federal contractors and large employers, but most of Kentucky’s biggest schools have not.
While the University of Kentucky has said all staff will need to either get vaccinated or seek an exemption, the University of Louisville, Eastern Kentucky University, Northern Kentucky University, and Western Kentucky University say they are still evaluating the new rules relating to mandates.
Those rules include one that requires all government contractors to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for employees and a separate Occupational Safety and Health Administration policy requiring employers of more than 100 people to require vaccines or a weekly negative test.
Most major universities in the U.S. receive money in the form of federal contracts, meaning President Biden’s Sept. 9 executive order, which covers parties with “a Federal Government contract or contract-like instrument,” applies to them. Those that don't have federal contracts but employ more than 100 people are likely covered by the OSHA rule, according to Inside Higher Ed. Several dozen universities, including the University of Tennessee system, have responded to the orders by mandating vaccines. The deadline to comply with the policies is January 4.
In an email to campus on Oct. 29, UK President Eli Capilouto wrote that while 93% of university employees are already vaccinated, the new rule for government contractors means “a small percentage who are unvaccinated ... are required to get vaccinated under this directive from the federal government."
UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said last week that the university is “still finalizing those lists for the folks on the federal contracts that we believe will need to be vaccinated.”
Other major Kentucky universities say they are still studying the issue. On Oct. 21, UofL Provost Lori Stewart Gonzalez sent an email to campus that said, “Because the university has numerous federal contracts that we depend on for our operation, we are seriously evaluating these requirements.” University spokesperson John Karman said there are no updates on those evaluations.
EKU is “reviewing the guidance,” NKU is “evaluating” it, and WKU is “engaged in both internal planning and external conversations” over the rules, according to their respective spokespeople. NKU is not covered by the federal contractor mandate, spokesperson Clayton Castle said. WKU spokesperson Jace Lux couldn't say whether the university has contracts with the federal government, but said "the vast majority of institutions do." A spokesperson for EKU did not respond to questions about whether it has federal contracts.
The federal contractor order is written broadly, according to an analysis written by the American Council on Education. It covers not just those employees whose work is directly related to a federal contract, but anyone they may come in contact with. Because of that, the analysis says, "it will be challenging, and perhaps impossible ... to apply the requirements to less than the entire campus" and be in compliance.
One issue at play, as WKU spokesperson Jace Lux pointed out, are the legal challenges against the mandates. “Already, several states have filed lawsuits challenging the mandate’s constitutionality, with Kentucky being one of them,” Lux wrote in an email.
Last Thursday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a lawsuit attempting to block the mandate for federal contractors. The suit argues that the mandate is unconstitutional and says it will harm the state. On Friday, he joined a lawsuit challenging the mandate on private employers. "We are taking the issue of federal overreach seriously and will protect the livelihoods of countless Kentuckians and Kentucky businesses from overbroad mandates," he said in a statement.
Unlike more than 1,100 other universities and colleges across the country, Kentucky’s largest public universities have declined to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, though several private schools have. That has caused problems for many students and teachers on some campuses without mandates. In Lexington, where hundreds of UK staff and students signed a petition in Sept. demanding a mandate, and in Louisville, UofL faculty have campaigned behind the scenes for a mandate.
Despite resisting those calls, the schools have encouraged and incentivized COVID-19 vaccines, a strategy that has proved largely successful. UofL’s COVID data dashboard shows that 85% of faculty and 87% of staff have been vaccinated. UK’s stats are higher, with 97% of faulty and 92% of staff vaccinated. At WKU, 89% of campus has been vaccinated. NKU and EKU do not publicly report vaccination figures.