Students returning to campus for the first Freshers’ week in two years find themselves in the awkward situation of having to declare their Covid-19 vaccination status and being given wristbands to be identified publicly if they have been vaccinated, or not. This move is causing alarm in England as the universities involved seem to be going beyond the Department of Education’s advice of making face masks mandatory indoors and U.S. higher education institutions are watching closely.
A new form of discrimination has been seen in schools throughout the pandemic. Now students at colleges and universities are required to publicly display their private medical information. “The idea of making students display their private medical information in such a public way is unacceptable,” said Arabella Skinner, the Director of parents group UsForThem and reported by The Telegraph.
Freshers at university campuses in the United Kingdom have been given color-coded wristbands that put them in a box: Vaccinated, or not vaccinated, creating anger and even fear among some students. What kind of world are we building post-covid?
The University of Bath has given color-coded wristbands on club nights to show if they are vaccinated or immune. Those students who can only show a negative lateral flow test are obliged to enter through a different queue.
At the University of Sheffield, students must present a Covid pass to enter freshers events or union nights outs. Those with two doses of a vaccine or with negative tests are offered separate wristbands to jump queues.
According to The Telegraph, Cambridge University and Oxford University Colleges' students are required to disclose their Covid vaccination status to staff.
As if there were not a discrimination problem in universities already, something many students around the world suffer on a daily basis; now, at least nine student unions across England are requiring students to show Covid passports to let them in their nightclubs. This is despite the U.K. government has not imposed any law for such a measure, as reported in The Telegraph this week.
In fact, Ministers in England reconsidered previous plans to bring in Covid-19 passports for nightclubs and lectures amid outcry at the potential discriminatory effects this may have caused.
There is no doubt that a two-tier university system raises serious concerns, especially when this is based on vaccination status and violates the privacy of health records.
In addition, the measure is an unethical attempt to force students to either get vaccinated or face the consequences of being publicly exposed and excluded by their universities.
The Telegraph reports that one second-year student at University of Sheffield felt excluded when told he could not enter freshers’ fair without a Covid-19 passport.
He felt fear of being “shamed in front of friends.” So much is being talked about how Covid-19 has negatively impacted student mental health, and yet, has university leadership considered how being excluded from their activities and use non being vaccinated to discriminate and isolate some students can impact their confidence, relationship with their peers, and mental health?
This is a topic that deserves consideration, discussion, and attention from global college and university leadership in order to achieve higher education inclusion rather than exclusion for reasons unrelated to academic performance.