With thousands of college students preparing to return to Maine campuses later this month, the state’s higher education institutions are putting policies in place regarding whether students, faculty and staff will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

All seven campuses that make up the state’s University of Maine network won’t require students to be vaccinated prior to returning to campus, said Dan Demeritt, a spokesman for the UMaine system. He noted, however, that any students who are not vaccinated will be subject to regular testing and potential quarantine. The process, Demeritt said, is similar to what the university did last school year for all students. This time, however, students who can show proof of vaccination will be exempt from testing and enjoy a higher level of freedom on campus. 

“You’ll skip the test,” he said. “You won’t have to wait.”

Demeritt said most responses from parents and students have been positive. He cited an informal survey from the university’s admissions department that supportive comments outweighed vaccination opposition by a factor of 10 to 1.

Not everyone, Demeritt added, is willing to be vaccinated.

“We have had a few who have concerns on the other side,” he said.

Demeritt said university officials have resisted requiring vaccinations because the current COVID-19 vaccines have not been fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Recent developments with the Delta variant, he said, have prompted officials to re-examine that policy, and he said the university might announce a policy change as early as this week.

According to a July 16 statement from the university, more than 5,000 students have already registered as vaccinated, and Chancellor Dannel Malloy noted the university was monitoring developments nationally.

“The Delta variant is a real threat, hospitalizing many young, unvaccinated individuals with severe COVID-19 symptoms,” Malloy wrote in a recent message to the university community. “Vaccination is our best defense against the threat of COVID and makes life easier and safer. We have no more urgent task in our return to normalcy than to get our vaccination rates as high as possible while also maintaining safety protocols for those who have not or cannot get vaccinated.”  

In addition to the UMaine system, Spectrum News surveyed policies and statements from seven private colleges and universities throughout the state, along with the University of New England and the state’s community college system to understand current vaccination requirements. Here’s what we found:   

Unlike the UMaine system, Bowdoin is requiring all students, faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated. According to a policy on the college’s website, students may request an exemption for medical reasons. Faculty and staff may request an exemption for medical reasons “or for sincerely held religious beliefs.” Students, the policy indicates, may not receive an exemption on religious grounds.

Students attending the Brunswick school must be fully vaccinated by Aug. 13. The faculty and staff deadline is Aug. 24.

According to a policy posted on the Bates website, the Lewiston college requires vaccinations for students, but not for faculty and staff.

“The very nature of our residential community makes this requirement necessary to protect the health of students and the broader Bates and local communities. In addition, having a fully vaccinated student body puts us in a better position to return to the many activities and experiences that existed on our campus before the pandemic, but were not possible this academic year,” Joshua McIntosh, the college’s vice president for campus life, wrote in a message to students.

The policy also stated that employees who are not vaccinated must wear face coverings while indoors “and outdoors when distancing cannot be maintained.” The college also requires unvaccinated visitors and vendors to be masked.

Colby College is requiring students, faculty and staff — who have not received exemptions due to medical or religious reasons — to be fully vaccinated before returning to Waterville campus. 

 “Due to health conditions, some members of our community and/or their family members may have been advised by their health professionals to continue mitigation (e.g., social distancing, face coverings) even with vaccination,” a letter to the Colby community reads. “Likewise, there may also be individuals who, based on personal comfort level, prefer to continue practicing some of these measures regardless of vaccination status. In other words, we should not assume that masking or other protective measures means unvaccinated. We also should expect that in some settings we may be asked to wear face coverings or socially distance. We should expect and respect these preferences.”

The Waterville college will not be mandating vaccines for students, faculty or staff, though the college is strongly advising its community members to get vaccinated. Anyone who is not vaccinated, the policy stated, will be required to wear a mask indoors and participate in an ongoing campus COVID-19 testing program. Unvaccinated visitors will also be required to wear masks.

Students, faculty and staff will be required to be vaccinated, according to the college’s posted policy. The college, located in Bar Harbor, will allow exemptions for a “documented medical reason for not being vaccinated” or “documented, sincerely held religious reason for not being vaccinated.”

University officials decided in May to require all on-campus students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated starting with the fall 2021 semester, according to statements from the university.

Students and employees can request exemption on medical or religious grounds, but will need to wear masks and participate in what the university called “surveillance testing.” Unvaccinated students will be placed in quarantine if they are suspected of coming into contact with someone who has COVID-19 virus or test positive for the virus.

According to the college’s website, St. Josephs requires “campus and commuter students, all staff, and campus and online faculty to be fully vaccinated.” The college indicated that anyone may request an exemption for medical or other reasons, and that requests “will be considered on an individual basis.”

All students, faculty and staff, regardless of vaccination, will have to take an entry test upon returning to campus this fall, but those who are vaccinated will not have to participate in regular COVID-19 testing, the policy stated.

According to the university’s website, all on-campus students and employees will be required to be vaccinated. Exemptions are allowed, but anyone granted such an exemption will need to be masked while indoors.

Spokesman Noel Gallagher said the state’s community colleges are requiring vaccinations for students who live in residence halls and are members of the colleges’ athletic teams. Otherwise, she said, there are no overall vaccination requirements.