On July 19, George Brown College (GBC) announced that COVID-19 vaccines will be mandatory for all students living in residence and varsity athletes for the Fall 2021 semester.
The vaccine requirement was announced by Chris McGrath, Vice-President, Student Success; Melissa Gallo, Director, Student Engagement and Career Success; and Melanie Gerin-Lajoie, Manager, Athletics and Recreation.
“We made this decision so that our students can have a richer and more fulfilling student experience,” McGrath said. “It will also allow us to provide the residence and varsity experiences to more students.”
According to GBC, the decision was made with consultation of the Student Association of George Brown College (SAGBC), Toronto Public Health, the Ontario Colleges Athletics Association (OCAA), and student-athletes.
The SAGBC funds the Dialog.
In a SAGBC Board of Directors (BOD) meeting on July 19, Gallo said that the college thought very carefully about the decision to make vaccinations mandatory for students living in residence.
“We thought very carefully about this decision. We looked across at what some of the other schools were doing, we looked at our community and some of the decisions that they were making, we looked at the health and safety considerations for George Brown College students.”
Up to this point, GBC student residences have been operating at fifty percent capacity to reduce the spread of COVID-19 cases amongst students. By requiring vaccinations this Fall 2021, the college can provide a living space for a larger number of students.
Given that all of GBC’s residences are suite-style, Gallo says the college looked towards the policies other colleges were mandating for their suite-style residences to make their decision. The decision to make vaccines mandatory for varsity athletes was made with consideration of how many different cities the students would be travelling to across the province for games and tournaments, returning back to residences afterward.
Moreover, the vaccination policy includes an exemption for health and religious reasons in consideration to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Students who want an exemption are required to reach out to Gallo where they can discuss on a one-to-one basis about their situations.
Gallo says that this is a one-time policy that GBC only sees being relevant for the Fall of 2021. More details on GBC’s vaccination policy can be found in this video or on the Vaccine Information Page.
