Berea College requiring students to be vaccinated to be on campus for fall semester

BEREA, Ky. (WYMT/WKYT) - Berea College students who want to return to campus in the fall will have to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Berea College Administrators announced Thursday that in-person instruction, student labor, and educational activities are planned to return for COVID-19 vaccinated students in the fall semester of 2021.

College officials are setting place a vaccination policy for students returning to campus.

“Throughout this current academic year, we sought to protect the health of our campus community,” said Berea College President Lyle Roelofs. “We implemented a successful combination of physical distancing, masking, restricting travel away from campus along with other new policies that resulted in a minimal number of positive COVID-19 cases. For the upcoming academic year, Berea will continue to protect the health of the College community through COVID-19 vaccinations.”

The vaccination policy was made after surveying students, staff, and faculty members to receive their input on returning to campus.

College administrators said students, faculty, and staff are expected to continue to follow guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.

“Throughout this current academic year, we sought to protect the health of our campus community,” said Roelofs. “We implemented a successful combination of physical distancing, masking, restricting travel away from campus along with other new policies that resulted in a minimal number of positive COVID-19 cases. For the upcoming academic year, Berea will continue to protect the health of the College community through COVID-19 vaccinations.”

Students deciding to not get a COVID-19 vaccine are offered a limited list of online courses to help them continue to complete their degree but are not allowed on campus.

Any first-year student who chooses to not get a COVID-19 vaccine is offered to postpone their start date. All other students are able to take or extend a leave of absence if they do not wish to take an online course.

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