This is a call to action for Berea College Administrative Committee to reconsider the process for creating new procedures that directly affect the Child Development Laboratory (CDL) staff, students, and parents. Specifically, offering more transparency during the process of policy creation and a greater voice for the community when it comes to making important decisions— For example, the vaccination mandate as a condition of CDL employment. 

To be clear, this petition is not a discussion about vaccine rhetoric, but a request for change on the procedural level with room for input and discussion on future decisions among the entirety of the CDL neighborhood.

As an illustration of the timeline for this decision, below is a history of the recent college mandate to require Covid vaccinations as a condition of employment at the CDL. It is the opinion of the petition signers that the following timeline and decision making procedures for this policy weren’t fully in accordance with the values, thoughtfulness, and democratic community that Berea College so often exhibits: 

September 9, 2021: CDL Staff Vaccine Mandate is brought up as new business at the General Faculty Assembly (GFA). This Zoom meeting was open to any faculty or staff member who may register beforehand, as well as select students who are General Faculty Assembly members.

The issues that need to be solved here are: The GFA invitation  wasn’t extended to CDL student parents or community members who don’t work at Berea College. This also isn’t an ideal time for many working parents/student parents/CDL staff, and although Berea faculty/staff were able to view a recording later, the opportunity for thoughtful discourse had passed quickly. There was not an agenda prepared ahead of time to be shared with the participants, so there was even less time to consider what impact this may have on our community. 

September 15, 2021: All CDL staff are notified by leadership that vaccinations are a new condition of their employment.

The issues that need to be solved here are: At no point (to my knowledge) before the decision was handed down was this discussed with CDL staff members or parents. With such an important change, this should be brought publicly to the forefront of our group consideration. This decision was also not communicated to the CDL parents in any official capacity, either with an email or through Tadpoles, the CDL’s parent/teacher interface.
This could be explained by the fact it was to be included in the President’s September 20th Report. However, an email from the CDL or the Administrative Committee would have been preferable as soon as the policy was in place. 

September 20, 2021: In President Roelofs “Update for COVID-19 Day 561” email, the Berea College community (faculty, staff, students) is notified of the following: 

• COVID-19 POLICIES FOR BEREA COLLEGE EMPLOYEES have been revised as of Tuesday, September 14, 2021: https://4efrxppj37l1sgsbr1ye6idr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/covid-19/wp-content/uploads/sites/160/2021/08/Employee-COVID-Policies-Revised-9.14.21-Updated.pdf  
  These are worth a careful read by all employees.  The important changes include: requiring CDL employee vaccinations; and changes to reflect the Request for Temporary Adjusted Work Accommodation process. 

Again, it is the opinion of the petition signers that the previous timeline and decision making procedures for this policy weren’t fully in accordance with the values, thoughtfulness, and democratic community that is the trademark of our Berea College family.

Right now we are asking our College leadership for a seat at the table where all of us who make up that CDL community would have to the opportunity to mindfully take part in the meetings where future policies like this one are created, considering that they have drastic impact and long lasting repercussions for us all.

Hopefully this can be one small step forward on our collective journey to being and becoming the best Berea possible.

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Edit 11.3.21
9:45 AM  -  Thank you to the member of the Executive Council for sharing that the EC has no role whatsoever in CDL policy decisions. She let me know that "those decisions are entirely the domain of AC (Administrative Committee)" so I have updated the petition to reflect that change.