Auburn, Ala. (EETV) - Auburn University's Division of Student Affairs hosted two forums today answering questions that students employed by the university may have regarding President Joe Biden's September 9th executive order mandating vaccinations for many, including all federal workers and contractors. A hard December 8th deadline has been set for employees of federal contractors, including Auburn University, to become fully vaccinated or face termination. This is a result of President Biden taking a much harder stance on vaccination as the COVID-19 Delta variant has caused case numbers to spike.
The forum was led by Bobby Woodard, Senior Vice President of Student Affairs at Auburn University, who answered the majority of questions asked. Also present were Corey Edwards, Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs, Trey Lightner, Senior Manager of Human Resources for Student Affairs, Leanne Fuller, Director of Human Resources Services, Rod Kelly, Executive Director of Compensation and Classification, and Ann Shore, Executive Director of Payroll and Employee Benefits.
The university representatives did not state a plan for dealing with the potential loss of many student employees and faculty. Woodard did state that approximately 82% of employees on the Auburn University healthcare plan (non-student employees) are vaccinated, a number that indicates just how many employees of the university must become vaccinated quickly to avoid a large number of layoffs by Auburn. A large emphasis was placed by the panel on submitting medical and religious exceptions as soon as possible, as these exemptions are the only method with which employees can bypass vaccination without losing their jobs.
(Editor's note: In an earlier version of this story, Eagle Eye TV mistakenly reported that the vaccination rate of employees was 18% instead of 82%. Eagle Eye TV apologizes for this error.)
There were many questions involving Alabama Governor Kay Ivey's recent executive order banning vaccine mandates in the state of Alabama. Woodard repeatedly stated that the federal, executive order takes precedent over Governor Ivey's order.
For more information regarding President Biden's vaccine mandate and Auburn University's compliance, follow this link.
