By Lauren Chavez, Feb. 1, 2022
Cal Poly Pomona students who are noncompliant in uploading proof of vaccinations against COVID-19 or have not complied with the campus’ alternate actions from the fall 2021 semester will be losing access to Canvas starting Feb. 4, in addition to their current registration hold on BroncoDirect.
Students, faculty and staff will need to be fully vaccinated and boosted, have requested a medical or religious exemption or self-attested they will not be coming onto campus physically by Feb. 28 to avoid further disciplinary action, according to the California State University system’s newly revised interim COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Students who complied with one of the four requirements in the fall 2021 semester but do not comply with the updated booster policy will also face a registration hold.
According to Frances Teves, assistant vice president of Government and External Affairs and head of the Safer Return Task Force, 31% of students, 32% of faculty and 36% of staff members are up to date with their vaccines, meaning they were eligible for the COVID-19 booster and uploaded vaccination proof, as of Jan. 28.
Out of Cal Poly Pomona students, 7.7% have submitted either a medical or religious exemption request and 1.2% have self-attested, meaning all their classes will be online and will not physically go to campus. As for employees, 5.9% have submitted an exemption request and 2% have self-attested.
“Only nonrepresented employees would have to face any of the disciplinary actions,” said Teves. “All of the representative employees, we’ve got to complete the meet and confer process for that to be determined.”
If one is not yet eligible for the booster vaccine but received their primary series, they are still in compliance and up to date.
If a student does not upload an updated vaccination record six months after their last dose, the Safer Return Task Force is automatically informed. Cal Poly Pomona is constantly communicating with students to let them know if they can receive their booster, according to Associate Vice President of Student Health & Wellbeing Leticia Gutierrez-Lopez.
“There’s been multiple communications that have gone out starting, really, July of last year for the fall semester, so students are aware of the new requirement,” said Dean of Students Jonathan Grady.
The CSU interim COVID-19 vaccination policy was first announced in July 2021, mandating students comply with one of the four actions. In November 2021, Cal Matters reported Cal Poly Pomona was one of three CSU campuses that approved all exemption requests.
“In order for us to pass a medical exemption, we need to have the (healthcare) provider complete the medical exemption form,” explained Gutierrez-Lopez.
Those who are unable to receive the booster will not lose access to Canvas as long as they are in communication with the Health Center team.
In the fall 2021 semester, noncompliant students who did not meet the Sept. 30, 2021, deadline received a registration hold on their BroncoDirect accounts. Since then, Grady shared that the disciplinary actions from last semester successfully motivated students to comply with one of the four actions.
The number of students who are still noncompliant from the initial disciplinary actions have reduced to 480 from 850 just a few weeks ago, according to Gutierrez-Lopez.
According to Grady, Cal Poly Pomona’s communication to students in determining whether they are in compliance have been clear. Students will be receiving weekly emails, phone calls and reminders through BillyChat and social media as the Feb. 28 deadline approaches.
After Feb. 12, Cal Poly Pomona is expected to reopen primarily with in-person instruction after three weeks of online virtual learning and campus community members will be expected to complete the daily health screener when coming to campus.
There will not be any major changes as students return to campus, but all employees will be required to wear medical grade masks including KN95 or N95. These resources will also be available across campus with no cost to students. The university is providing dispensers in a number of locations and will be provided in the classroom, according to Teves.
“Personally, I am 100% OK with them requiring students to have boosters,” said music industries studies student Gwen Martin. “I think that if we want to be in-person, if that’s what we have to do, that’s what we have to do. For those that necessarily feel the opposite way, you can feel that way, but we’re trying to be as safe as possible and the booster is just an extra layer of protection.”
Students who do not know how to upload their booster record can find instructions through a video provided by the Safer Return Task Force. If any campus community members have questions or concerns, they may contact the Health Center at (909) 869-4000 or health@cpp.edu.
