University of California (UC) professors are urging the university system to reverse its COVID-19 booster mandates for students and staff. 11 UC professors sent a Nov. 23 letter calling on administrators to drop the mandate, which requires up-to-date vaccination status for all faculty and students. The professors have allegedly not yet received a response from UC administrators.
William Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UC Santa Barbara, spoke to Campus Reform about why he helped write the letter as well as why he feels UC universities have not responded. Robinson was motivated to hold the university accountable for this mandate in part because “informed consent is a matter of law and ethics that establishes that no one can be coerced into a medical procedure, especially with regard to an experimental drug.”
“The CDC has ‘recommended’ and not mandated the new booster. The University’s decision to mandate boosters at this time is therefore not in accordance with CDC guidelines,” the letter argues. Robinson also believes UC might have refused to respond due to a conflict of interest. “UC President Michael Drake, for instance, sits on the board of Amgen, a biotechnology pharmaceutical company that is developing covid drugs,” Robinson pointed out to Campus Reform.