Could The University Of Montana Enforce A Vaccine Mandate On Campus?

School is back in session in Missoula - classes are being taught in-person, and for a lot of students, it's the first time they've seen the inside of a classroom in about 18 months. But it's a strange time we're living in now: although we have the vaccine, COVID has certainly not gone away, with different variants popping up that are making it harder to eradicate the virus.

And yet, crowded events are happening again - we've had a full season of concerts at Kettlehouse Amphitheater, the Griz just returned to playing football with a packed stadium... and to have all these people together in one place can be a little nerve-wracking.

That's why the Associated Students of the University of Montana, as well as the UM Faculty Senate, are telling the University of Montana that they want a vaccine mandate for the school, as well as additional mask mandates for the campus' indoor spaces.

But is that something the school could actually enforce? The state of Montana has made it pretty clear that it will not impose mandates of any kind, and that includes vaccination requirements for events (which has had an impact on some of the concerts scheduled for Montana in recent weeks). According to UM officials, they don't have the authority to require vaccines at the school.

The school does apparently plan to revisit and possibly revise their mask mandate plans beginning on September 20th, so we'll see if anything comes from that. Would you support a vaccine mandate at the University of Montana?