On April 27th, EWU held a public policy hearing in order to go over the proposed changes and get further feedback from the community. Here are the notable changes coming to EWU. 

Immunizations 

EWU Policy 602-02: Immunizations policy change proposed the removal of requirements for students and employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but that certain programs may continue to have additional immunization requirements. 

The Easterner report on the vaccine requirement removal can be found here.

There was no feedback during the hearing, but a comment left on the Review Policies in Process webpage by Naite Boham criticized the university’s choice of lifting the requirement. 

“If we do not require COVID vaccines on campus, we are telling our disabled, elderly, and immunocompromised students, staff, faculty, and community members that we do not care about them – that if our campus is unsafe for them, we will not miss them.” 

Student Conduct Code

WAC 172-121: Student Conduct Code changes clarifies the investigative process for cases that don’t involve sexual misconduct or interpersonal changes. These changes are made due to a new set of Title IX federal regulations. The changes also indicate that parties are able to have separate prehearing conferences and clarifies the admissibility of certain types of evidence if a party fails to attend a full student conduct hearing. 

Diversity & Nondiscrimination 

EWU Policy 402-02: Diversity & Nondiscrimination adds a new chapter stating that all students are welcome to try out for and participate in intercollegiate athletics. Transgender students who want to participate must meet the requirements of NCAA Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy. Annika Scharosch, the AVP of Civil Rights, Compliance & Enterprise Risk Management at EWU, stated that transgender students have always been welcome to participate in sports but due to the recent banning of transgender athletes in multiple states EWU decided to make a public statement showing their commitment to nondiscrimination and support for transgender students.