We, the undersigned faculty of Citrus College are in full agreement in our support of the following recommendation and urge its immediate adoption:

1. That the Board approve a mandate that all persons physically present on campus (students, faculty, and staff) be fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) with a vaccine approved for use in the United States.
2. That this mandate be put into effect in time for the start of the Spring 2022 semester.
3. That weekly testing for COVID-19 and “honor system” reporting of symptoms, be eliminated as an alternative to being vaccinated.
4. That only if the Board refuses to institute a vaccine mandate, faculty be given the option to teach their courses online during the Spring 2022 term.

In a survey of full-time faculty conducted in August 2021:

• 87.3% of respondents stated they wanted to see vaccines required of all employees.
• 86.4% stated they wanted to see vaccines required of all students.
• 88.8% stated they considered this matter to be either "extremely important" or "very important".
• The response rate was 73.3%.

The following points illustrate the passion of our position, and the urgency of taking steps to provide a safe and functional environment for instruction:

• Full classes on campus in the Spring will be plagued with chaos. With 45 students in many classes and weekly testing, faculty will be inundated with notices from HR about COVID positive cases. Notifications to those unvaccinated students to stay away from campus for 10 or 14 days. Endless accommodations for make-ups. Endless requests to provide various modes of delivery of information to those kept off campus. Instructors themselves, regardless of vaccination status, testing positive, asymptomatic, but still in need of substitute instructors or forced to teach all of their classes online for two weeks.  Some students will not be prepared for this if they lack equipment or experience to switch to online learning. This will run counter to the College’s commitment to equity.
• The College's current policy for Spring is that students must be vaccinated OR undergo weekly testing.  The rapid tests used are notoriously not very accurate...compared to PCR tests.  In addition, weekly testing means someone can be tested on Monday, get infected that evening, and potentially spread COVID later in the week, before their next test.  Besides the risk to the campus community, students potentially will spread the virus contracted on-campus to their family members.  Many Citrus students live in multi-generational households, sharing accommodations with elderly family members, those with co-morbidities, and those who are not vaccinated.
• Many divisions teach classes in small, tight rooms in the LB and other buildings. So tight are these rooms that our effective cap is 42 students in many rooms, due to the maximum number of persons the Fire Marshall will allow. Social distancing will be impossible as students will be packed in these rooms only inches apart.  There are no windows and only a single narrow door.  Air is circulated throughout the building, bringing air from classroom to classroom.  An air purifying machine is hardly sufficient and creates noise distractions in these small spaces. Students frequently approach instructors face-to-face before or after class with questions. Many of them sneeze or cough on a Scantron or bluebook before turning them in.  Students typically congregate in tight spaces waiting to enter their classroom.  Dozens of students pass by one another, sometimes making contact as they enter and exit these rooms.
• Even if one is vaccinated, one can still acquire the virus and spread it.  How many faculty and students have children under age 12 or an elderly parent whom they don't want to infect? How many have a family member at home with a compromised immune system? Undergoing chemotherapy? How many have loved ones with Type II diabetes? Other conditions?
• The current policy will negatively distinguish Citrus College from all levels of public education in the state.  The University of California has a vaccine mandate.  The California State University system has a vaccine mandate. We aspire to send our students to these systems following transfer. Many community college districts, including the state’s largest, the Los Angeles Community College District, has a vaccine mandate. The largest K-12 school districts such as Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified have vaccine mandates.  And on Friday October 1, Governor Newsom mandated that all K-12 students in the state be vaccinated for COVID-19 once the Food & Drug Administration grants full approval for those of K-12 age.  Citrus College will then be the only step in a student’s educational pathway that does not require a vaccine.
• Vaccine mandates are hardly new, nor controversial, and have had constitutionality tested in Federal courts.  Precedent is well-established and currently being applied in every case that goes before the courts.  Students and faculty have for decades been required to be vaccinated against serious communicable diseases.  In addition, the perception that such a mandate is invasive can be discounted by the fact that for years, faculty have had to undergo tuberculosis testing that requires the injection of tuberculin under the skin.
• The faculty want to go back to the classroom.  This is not about not wanting to come to campus to teach.  We want a vaccine mandate so we can safely teach on campus.

What we ask is for Citrus College to institute a complete vaccination requirement in time for the Spring 2022 semester.  No second-rate tests.  No more "honor system” for self-reporting.  No vaccine, no attending on-campus classes.  The unvaccinated however need not be turned away.  Citrus faculty did the incredible job of making sure that every course on campus can be legally offered in an online format.  We can continue to serve students who chose not to be vaccinated with alternate modalities.

The policy the Board of Trustees adopted at the September meeting will do nothing to ensure a safe environment for students and faculty, and will result in major disruptions to how teaching is delivered.  The opinion of some that a fully open campus without a vaccine mandate might increase FTES may be ill conceived, and will result in someone's illness and death unless a course correction is made.  A single death is too many.

Let the Board of Trustees establish itself on the right side of history by making public health its first priority.  As the elected representatives of the people served by Citrus College, the Board of Trustees can demonstrate to the community that they did their part to make Citrus College one of the safest educational institutions in the San Gabriel Valley.