The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees voted today to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all employees at state universities that receive federal contracts except those who fall under limited exempt categories.
This month, the University of Southern Mississippi Faculty Senate called for IHL to reverse its policy prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the state’s universities and colleges, pointing to accreditation standards requiring that institutions “take reasonable steps to provide a healthy, safe, and secure environment for all members of the campus community.”
The state board that oversees higher education in Mississippi voted today to prohibit all public colleges and universities from requiring COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of employment or enrollment. The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees made the decision following weeks of confusion over a previous vote in August.
Mississippi State University is unlikely to implement a campus-wide vaccine mandate even after a majority of the institution’s Faculty Senate called on leaders to do so in a resolution they adopted during a meeting on Friday.
The board that oversees Mississippi’s universities and colleges rejected calls for campus vaccine mandates this afternoon, with seven of the board’s nine members agreeing only to “strongly encourage” vaccines during a socially distanced Zoom meeting.
Wilbert H. Norton, the former University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media dean whose emails with a wealthy donor were a central part of this publication’s 2020 “UM Emails” exposé, is no longer an employee at UM.
University of Mississippi Ombudsman Paul Caffera is back at work months after he became ensnared in the administration’s effort to root out a group of whistleblowers who unearthed a collection of emails between university officials and wealthy donors who expressed racist views.
University of Mississippi Campus Police are pursuing a criminal investigation into Ole Miss Information, a group of anonymous whistleblowers who, last year, provided the Mississippi Free Press with copies of emails that served as the basis for this publication’s “UM Emails” exposé.
The University of Mississippi is asking a Lafayette County chancery court to dismiss a lawsuit its ombudsman, Paul J. Caffera, filed in November seeking to bar school officials from obtaining information about visitors to his office amid an investigation into the ombudsman and a group of anti-racism whistleblowers at the school.
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