Vassar to require students be vaccinated; see what area schools plan for commencement, fall

Vassar College plans to keep its campus open in the fall and require students to be vaccinated before returning for the new academic year.

The school on Wednesday announced its intentions to return to in-person, on-campus learning, creating “a more typical residential model,” in which “students and visitors will be free to come and go on and off campus as they had prior to the pandemic.”

Vassar became the first Mid Hudson Valley college to commit to requiring vaccinations, joining a handful of schools across the state like Manhattanville and Cornell. Marist College has said it would also require vaccinations “in all likelihood,” though “no final determination has been made.”

But before a new class arrives in the fall, schools around the region are making plans for the end of the year. And, after a 2020 spring in which commencement ceremonies were exclusively virtual, most area colleges have announced intentions to hold in-person events this spring. Some are planning to celebrate both the 2020 and 2021 classes.

Colleges: Will vaccinations be required in the fall?

New campus: How Dutchess Community College aims to curb enrollment, revenue losses

Bard: What does George Soros' $1 billion endowment mean for Bard College?

Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this week announced new state guidelines that allow for indoor or outdoor graduations, though with limitations on attendance based on venue capacity to ensure the ability to socially distance. All attendees will also either need to be vaccinated or have proof of a negative test for outdoor events larger than 200 people or indoor events larger than 99.

Commencement planning

At least three schools, SUNY New Paltz, Mount Saint Mary and Vassar, say family and friends will not be invited to their ceremonies. However, those announcements were made before New York updated its guidelines and most area schools noted they would be monitoring changes in the guidelines to update their plans.

New Paltz is planning two consecutive weekends of graduations, with “a series of smaller, shorter in-person” events celebrating the class of 2021 over May 14-16, and another series May 22-23 for 2020 graduates. “We are responding to student interest in an in-person experience to mark this milestone in their lives and recognize their hard-earned achievements,” the school said. New Paltz noted it plans to stream the events for family and friends to watch from a distance live or on demand.

Mount Saint Mary is planning an in-person graduation for both its 2020 and 2021 classes on May 22, after its school of nursing graduation on May 21.

Marist told graduates to “hold the dates of Memorial Day Weekend, May 29-31” for commencement ceremonies subject to change. It plans to hold “the traditional undergraduate ceremony” on May 30, with the caveat that additional ceremonies may be needed depending on the state’s guidance. “We still recommend families do not make any non-refundable travel arrangements” the school said.

Meanwhile, Marist is asking members of its 2020 class to take an online survey through its site on ideas for how the now-former students would like to be celebrated.

Vassar plans to hold an in-person, outdoor commencement June 6 for both on-campus students and remote students who choose to attend. Poughkeepsie native and tech mogul Jessica O. Matthews is slated as the commencement speaker.

Dutchess Community College’s graduation is listed as May 13, and Bard College’s commencement weekend is scheduled for May 28-30. Neither school has shared details of what is planned.

Preparing for the fall

As Vassar plans to require vaccinations for all those without an exception for medical of religious reasons, the school noted it will no longer offer remote learning in 2021-22.

It also announced the fall would follow a traditional calendar, with classes beginning at the end of August, ending in mid-December and include breaks in which students can leave campus.

Most colleges in the Hudson Valley and suburbs to the north of New York City have stopped short of requiring students to get vaccinated, although that could change as it gets easier to book the shot.

As of last week, Vassar and Mount Saint Mary had not decided whether they would require vaccinations. Neither has the SUNY system, of which New Paltz and Dutchess Community College are a part.

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras on Wednesday said 

SUNY students have not shown signs of hesitancy to receive the vaccine, noting that demand for a since-paused allotment of 21,000 shots specifically for students outpaced the supply.

"We didn't have a problem signing up students for the vaccine, the J&J — we ran out of slots," Malatras told Spectrum News' "Capital Tonight." "It's getting enough of the vaccine for our students."

The chancellor, a former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo who took over SUNY's top job in July, said he will reexamine the issue in the middle of the summer to make a final determination on whether a mandatory policy is necessary.