Molly Minta

“This has to be a student-driven movement if it wants sustainability,” one civil-rights attorney said.

As the fall semester approaches, many faculty, staff and students at Mississippi’s public colleges and universities say silence is emblematic of how state leadership at all levels has responded to the pandemic: Prioritizing politics and the economy over public health.

As the “primary health prevention strategy” to stem transmission of the virus, the new guidelines recommend all eligible students, faculty and staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine. It also urges colleges and universities to direct everyone on campus, regardless of vaccination status, to mask-up in all indoor facilities and in crowded outdoor settings.

The insider appointments are indicative of a system of favoritism that excludes historically Black colleges and universities.

Mississippi is still the least vaccinated state in the country, yet the universities are still trying to return to normal. Nearly 250 people have signed a letter urging the state board to require vaccines for students.

Advocates for college access acknowledge the importance of weeding out fraud but worry about the cost of adding new hurdles to getting aid.

This could affect the day-to-day operations of the state’s eight public universities, which the board is tasked with overseeing.

In a bid to get students back, several colleges are paying for their summer classes with federal stimulus money.

This fall, a typical family will spend 18% of their annual income to afford the average tuition at Mississippi’s public universities.

The state’s college faculty and staff are among the lowest-paid in the South. The 1% pay raise the state budget funds is insulting, some say.