More than 100 Penn State students suspended for bucking vaccine-or-test requirement

More than 100 Penn State University students are on interim suspension for failing to comply with the university’s covid-19 testing requirement, according to a release from the school.

As of Tuesday, according to the release, 117 students at Penn State’s University Park campus have been placed on interim suspension after missing at least three weeks of testing.

Covid-19 testing is required weekly for Penn State students and staff who have not been vaccinated or who have not shared their vaccination status with the school.

Interim suspension means students cannot participate in classes regardless of whether they are in-person or remote, can’t be on university property and are temporarily removed from their residence hall, officials said. Suspended students also are barred from university-backed events, such as football games.

School officials reached out by phone to all students at risk of being suspended, officials said — an effort that resulted in hundreds of students coming back into compliance.

“We have done everything we reasonably can to ensure that these students are aware of their obligation and do what they must to honor it,” Damon Sims, vice president for student affairs, said in a statement.

He urged those who can be vaccinated to do so.

“The last thing we want is to suspend them,” Sims said. “I’m sorry these students did not follow our repeated admonitions and warnings, and I hope they will make the correction necessary.”

Data on testing compliance among employees was not available, according to the release, although human resources personnel are analyzing that data.

Students can bring themselves back into good standing with the school by uploading their proof of vaccination or scheduling and completing a covid-19 test.

University officials late last month said more than 86% of students living on-campus have provided proof of vaccination along with 78% of students living off-campus. That makes for an 80% vaccination rate for University Park’s student body.

About 83% of full-time employees have been vaccinated as well, officials said.

Students against the university’s indoor mask requirement marched outside Old Main earlier this month, according to WITF. The roughly three dozen students were part of an “Unmask Penn State” rally, and speakers pushed for lifting mitigation measures in the face of high vaccination rates.

Days earlier, an anti-mask protester was allegedly assaulted by a professor as he counter-protested a rally in support of a universitywide vaccine mandate, according to the Centre Daily Times.