Western University’s three-dose vaccination mandate applies to students, staff and visitors – but those thinking of cutting a check to the university get a pass.
An addendum to Western’s policy, posted on the university website, lays out several categories of “visitors” the mandate applies to, including guest lecturers, convocation attendees, contractors, and performers.
Included among those exempt from the policy are delivery and taxi drivers, emergency responders, and athletes visiting from other schools.
Donors and prospective donors are also excluded from the mandate, meaning they do not need to be vaccinated or show proof of vaccination to attend campus like most others do.
Western has not responded to a request from True North for the scientific basis of the exemption.
Western announced its vaccine policy last week, just two weeks before classes begin. Students and staff have until October 1 to comply with the booster mandate.
On Saturday, students, parents, faculty members and community supporters gathered at Western University to protest the mandate.
Kendra Hancock, a Western graduate student and creator of Enough is Enough Western, said it was important for people upset by the mandate to know they weren’t alone.
“I knew this had to be done,” she told True North. “I thought about some things that might be helpful for the community to know, or to have one central spot where people could talk and could support one another.”
True North’s Andrew Lawton spoke at the demonstration, taking aim at a mandate that applies to students in classrooms but not to those thinking of cutting cheques to Western.
