UB faculty demands COVID policy rethink

As of Friday, September 3, 2021

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE union that represents the University of The Bahamas’ faculty and the school’s Student Government Association have come out against the university’s strict new COVID-19 policy.

On Wednesday, UB issued a statement stating its board of trustees has mandated that anyone entering the school’s campuses and facilities must show proof of being fully vaccinated or present a negative COVID-19 rapid antigen test effective Monday.

People who are unvaccinated but seek entry to its campuses must have a rapid antigen test result issued within the last 72 hours. UB said this refers to faculty, students, staff, alumni, vendors and members of the public.

Anyone seeking entry to UB as of September 30 however, must show proof of full vaccination, the university said.

Daniel Thompson, president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas, has taken grave exception to the new policy, calling it dictatorial.

“The COVID policy was put in place without even the appropriate dialogue,” Mr Thompson said. “UB needs to engage in more effective communication. They need to consult with their stakeholders and stop believing that the board of trustees is some rogue enterprise. They are not an independent state to set their own laws without consultation. That’s called dictatorship and we’re a democracy.

“They’re doing this right in the middle of the silly season. From my position perhaps they are doing their last bidding before they exit the scene. We are not in the category where persons are telling their members not to vaccinate. We encourage you to vaccinate, but we do have members of our faculty who do not support the vaccination, who do not wish to be and will not be vaccinated.

“What we don’t encourage is for the organisation to begin to create policies that are punitive because the essence of their policy is that if I object, not because of religion or health, then I don’t have a job. That cannot be. What we are advocating is that there ought to be a compromise so that there is a continuous testing option after September 30.”

Mr Thompson said his union met with UB officials last Friday and they were supposed to get back to his team, but instead the statement was released outlining the new policy.

“We met on Friday to discuss this new policy and during that meeting the legal counsel said emphatically that this is not a mandatory vaccination policy because the three unions that were there, the BPSU, the PMU and the UTEB queried the mandatory policy,” he told The Tribune.

“General counsel, Ms Tracey Ferguson-Johnson, said emphatically, ‘this is not a mandatory policy’. Our concern was if you want us to be tested, then the university should pay for it. So they said they would go back to the board because they only wanted to pay for the testing for security and the custodial staff. Not librarians who have to keep the library and not anyone else who has to come on campus.

“They were supposed to come back to us. Ten minutes before that same press release was issued we got a copy of it. So obviously that was not a dialogue. We saw that they had agreed to pay for the fees, but now coming the 30th of September, it is now mandatory. We have a serious problem with that. That option should remain in place that you can test if you don’t wish to be vaccinated.”

He said UB’s board of trustees ought to review a compromise.

“No University Act has given them the independence to infringe on people’s rights. So we dismiss the idea that the council is supreme. They are not more supreme than the law of The Bahamas. You cannot tell me I have to be vaccinated in order to work,” he added.

“What we say is that they can use means to (encourage) persons to get vaccinated, but you cannot put a gun to their heads and say, ‘if you’re not vaccinated you don’t have the right to be employed.’ That’s the challenge that exists. We, as a trade union, have a right to protect those members as well.”

UB’s Student Government Association also expressed disappointment with the new policy. That body issued a statement also calling for the new policy to be revised.

“The Student Government Association wishes to express its disappointment with the chairman of the board of trustees following the announcement of its COVID-19 vaccination policy and calls for its immediate reneging and subsequent revision,” the group said yesterday.

The SGA says it met and shared its concerns of the then proposed policy with the UB officials to no avail.

“However, none (of the concerns) were presented in the policy, and we feel students must be given a seat at the table.

“We call upon the board of trustees to revise this policy with consideration of all students, faculty and staff who continuously fall victim to the reckless decision making of the university,” the SGA said.

More like this story

tmoss 3 years, 2 months ago

The vaccine is completely free. If they don't want to get it then they can find somewhere else to work and pay for their own testing in the meantime. Businesses and countries absolutely can and should mandate the vaccine rather than catering to individuals who 'just don't want it'.

JokeyJack 3 years, 2 months ago

You may have a point. Perhaps we should also require a colonoscopy? Reading your comment gives me grave concern in this area, for you in particular. This is an area of health that is often ignored and even seldom talked about, yet polyps are real and can grow and become cancerous and cause great problems.

What kind of society would be be if we allowed you (and others) to contract and die of colon cancer? We would be backward, primitive, uncaring souls - and we simply cannot allow that.

All persons should be required to have a colonoscopy and register the results with the Ministry of Health every 3 months.

jt 3 years, 2 months ago

Cancer’s not contagious, moron. This is a false comparison. My grandfather won’t die because you chose not to treat your polyps for free.

joeblow 3 years, 2 months ago

... what is moronic is ignoring the abundance of medical information that makes it clear that the vaccinated can still get covid and spread it to your grandfather who might die from it! The good news is that even if unvaccinated, more than 98% of people will live!

DWW 3 years, 2 months ago

So where did you intern to get your MD? BRietbart Uni I presume?

benniesun 3 years, 2 months ago

Good information is also free. We will reap what we sow.

“Herd Stupidity”: The Manufactured Covid Crisis, the Gene-based mRNA “Vaccine” and “The Pinnacles of Wealth and Power” https://templeton01436.blogspot.com/202…

Why do “Health Authorities” and Presstitutes Lie to Us about Covid? by Paul Craig Roberts https://templeton01436.blogspot.com/202…

JokeyJack 3 years, 2 months ago

Thank you for providing info. Nobody will read it though - they are already hypnotized.

Bobsyeruncle 3 years, 2 months ago

I honestly tried reading it, but this guy has the literary equivalent of verbal diarrhea. Not to mention the fact that he says 9/11 was staged by the US government, Israel is the primary backer of ISIS, and that the holocaust didn't happen. Don't know about you, but that's enough to make me stop reading

benniesun 3 years, 2 months ago

hypnotize: to produce a sleep-like state in someone so that you can influence their thoughts and actions.

hypnotized is the same as spellbound: To bind or hold by a spell. When a person's thoughts have been bound by a spell that person's thoughts are limited by the binding. Anything out of the bound is simply unthinkable.

Note - site articles by different authors

bahamianson 3 years, 2 months ago

find another job , that's all. when you have enough money to open your own college, you can call the shots, otherwise, be still.

JokeyJack 3 years, 2 months ago

My friend, you are in for a rude awakening. Have you filled out a travel health visa application online recently? Have you noticed how now they are asking you all kinds of questions about whether you have diabetes with complications, high stress, etc? High stress - what exactly does that mean? Is there anyone alive today who does not have high stress? They are also asking whether you are bring financial instruments over $10,000? What does that have to do with health? Isn't that a customs function? Does that mean when the customs officer asks me that question after I land, I can tell him I already answered online and I don't have to answer him? What else are they going to add to this thing? Will you have to record cholesterol levels? That is a serious thing. What about adopted children? Do you have adopted children? Do you love them as much as if they were your biological children? What about cheating on your wife or husband? Have you ever done that? Could you be spreading sexually transmitted diseases? WE NEED TO KNOW ALL YOUR BUSINESS.
Trust me, if yall let this Frankenstein monster loose- he will run free and grow and become very scary. If you are not scared yet, and going along with this foolishness, trust me - your day to be scared exists in your future.

benniesun 3 years, 2 months ago

A Perfect Agent:

A Perfect Agent is a person who is an agent, but not aware of being an agent. That Perfect Agent is totally immersed and indoctrinated by the enemy's agenda - 'Propaganda' and 'Lies'; he believes in the indoctrinated tenets and executes them with righteous fervor, and with righteous indignation enthusiastically targets those he perceives as non-believers. Thereby, unknowingly, functions as a foot soldier for the enemy.

JokeyJack 3 years, 2 months ago

Exactly. We claim to be a Christian nation and we all know about the MARK that was said will come that you will need in order to buy or sell.
Uhm, hello? Are yall stuck on stupid? Now you cant buy without a job, and you cant sell anything if you're not working in a store or "selling" education or whatever. What else needs to be told about this "vaccine" for yall to realize that it is the MARK. Yall need Satan to show himself in the flesh? He can if you ask him to. He stands ready 24-7.

ConchFretter 3 years, 2 months ago

It is an injection, not a Mark. BCG vaccine left more of a "mark" than COVID vaccines do. And if you bring up vaccination cards as the MARK, credit cards and cell phones have been around much longer.

If UB were private, they could do what they want. But as a public university, they should not have the authority to fire based on vaccination status (as much as I am a proponent of vaccinations). Wear a mask, temp checks, test once a week, strongly encourage -- but for a governmental organization to fire based on vaccination status is dictatorial and antithetical to our democracy.

baclarke 3 years, 2 months ago

Another commentary section with persons missing the point of vaccinations. Vaccinations do not stop persons from catching or spreading covid, so businesses who enforce these rules with covid in mind do so pointlessly. End of story. No conspiracy theory, no anti-vax motives. Simple Logic.