Vaccine mandates announced by Gov. Walz, Aug. 19, 2021
Recent vaccine mandates announced by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra affect all MSUM employees and select groups of MSUM students. The requirements are summarized below:
MSUM Employees
Governor Walz’s mandate (previously communicated to all Minnesota State employees in an email from Chancellor Malhotra on August 11, 2021) goes into effect on September 8th and requires all state employees to provide verification of vaccination or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. This includes student employees at MSUM. Although the process for verifying employees’ vaccination or testing status is still under development by the Minnesota State System Office, we do know that the process will be coordinated by MSUM’s Human Resources Office. We will share more details as soon as they are available.
MSUM Students
As noted above, MSUM student employees are included in Governor Walz’s mandate and, beginning September 8th, will need to provide verification of vaccination or weekly COVID test results. More information about how to submit such verification will be provided soon.
In addition, the following student groups are included in the Minnesota State System’s requirements for vaccination verification. These requirements were announced by Chancellor Malhotra yesterday and apply to students in settings where there is close and frequent contact with others:
- Residence hall students: Students who live in University-owned residential facilities must provide vaccination verification or be subject to weekly testing. In order to be exempted from weekly testing, residential students must be fully vaccinated by October 4, 2021.
- Student athletes: Students participating in intercollegiate athletics must comply with previously announced NCAA and MSUM vaccine and testing protocols.
- Students at clinical or internship sites: These sites may have requirements or mandates that go beyond the verification and testing required by Minnesota State.
Getting vaccinated is the single most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our campus community. I urge all employees and students to get vaccinated as soon as possible. One opportunity to do so is this Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. outside of residence halls on the MSUM campus.
Please watch for more information in upcoming Dragons Care emails. Questions or concerns can be submitted to dragonscare@mnstate.edu.