Some universities in the U.S. have implemented a vaccine mandate for students as precaution measures, such as the University of Michigan. An option for SWOSU? Dr. Lovell, president at SWOSU since July 1, says “no.”

“It has never been an option legally for us,” she said in an interview with The Southwestern. “I cannot see that happening in the future. Never say never, but that is not in our discussion at all.”

Wastewater testing not efficient

Last fall, SWOSU took precautions such as testing wastewater in order to monitor changes of COVID-19 in the SWOSU community. Back then, former SWOSU Provost James South said it costs the university around $2,000 every week.

Dr. Lovell now said that the possibility of doing that again was indeed discussed within the COVID Safety Committee. However:

“It took a long time to get the results back and then it was kinda of hard to pinpoint. It didn’t really help us. It might help on a very broad scale, but we didn’t find it very effective.”