On January 1st, 2022 Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) announced a two-week online-only start to the semester starting on January 9, 2022, which will last until January 24, 2022. While not against this I and perhaps others in the student body see this as part of a bigger problem with the senior MIAD leadership community and its vaccination policy. 

While curving the spread of Covid-19 is important an all vaccinated population is the best defense against this spread. As new Covid-19 strains continue to show up our future education can not be speculation and held hostage by a small unvaccinated minority. The more anxious the administration is about an unvaccinated person bringing Covid-19 back into a school the more drastic measures it has to take. Having an all vaccinated population of students would lessen this anxiety and most definitely reduce the effects Covid-19 can have on the student body and education as a whole.

Mandating vaccinations is not a radical idea:

California College of the Arts (California) requires Covid-19 vaccination. American Academy of Art (Illinois) requires Covid-19 vaccination. Harvard University (Massachusetts) requires Covid-19 vaccination. Massachusetts College of Art & Design (Massachusetts) requires Covid-19 vaccination. College for Creative Studies (Michigan) requires Covid-19 vaccination. 

Of all those schools listed above, one isn't an art school. The point is this isn't a radical idea for the art college world. Even beyond that hundreds of other private educational institutions have done the exact same thing. MIADS's close neighbor Marquette is even requiring them.

Furthermore, the administration's handling of vaccination hasn't been the best. MIAD has maintained the argument of strongly suggesting vaccination. This causes a very big issue however as it can destroy the educations of the vast majority of the student population. Choosing how the entire student body will work, live, eat, sleep and get food either as a direct result of or to appease a few people who won't get vaccinated is bad, and although I and many will put up with this it cannot become the norm. 

By signing this petition you agree with the idea MIAD should mandate vaccinations. This petition is not advocating for the return of in person teaching Jan 9 - Jan 24 rather seeking to point out issues with MIADS current health/vaccination policy and change them with the fresh context of the email sent out today and the Omicron variant. This petition will be sent to Jeffrey Morin on Jan 19th, 2021.