In the days leading up to the adoption of a schoolwide vaccine mandate, some LBCC faculty members engaged in contentious email debates that claimed the resolution promoted discrimination and segregation.
All emails were acquired through the California Public Records Act, and were sent in a reply-all fashion to faculty members.
Fire science professor Frank Hayes shared the public comment he sent to the Board of Trustees in an email on Oct. 13. Hayes declared his opposition to the mandate due to “religious beliefs, medical conditions, possible dangers, causing discrimination and segregation issues, damaging institutions and the infringement of personnel freedom.”
Hayes said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows a COVID survival rate of 99.997% for ages 1-19 and 99.98% for ages 20-49. However, the CDC has not released these numbers and an agency spokesperson said it does not have the mortality rates available to do so.
These statistics were traced back to a tweet from a conservative user, and screenshots of the post were flagged as misinformation on Facebook and Instagram.
“These statistics clearly show, that for healthy individuals with no underlying illnesses, the chances of dying are much lower than from other medical conditions, diseases or day to day activities (driving),” Hayes wrote.
“By mandating a vaccination, you are practicing discriminatory behavior and are causing segregation between the vaccinated and un-vaccinated.” he added.
Hayes believes that students who do not wish to receive their vaccination, and therefore do not enroll in classes at LBCC are “being deprived of a college education.”
Kinesiology professor Matthew Barbier wrote on Oct. 20 that there is hypocrisy in a “yes” vote on a vaccine mandate, because he believes it conflicts with LBCC’s mission statement.
“The first 11 words of the LBCC mission statement are as follows: ‘Long Beach City College is committed to providing equitable student learning…’ Forced on-line only student learning is not equitable student learning,” wrote Barbier.
Barbier continued, “Why would Long Beach City College impose a mandate which would discriminate against and prevent these minority groups’ ability to continue their education in an equitable manner?”
Math professor Pablo Bert was not planning to weigh in on the topic, but engaged in the email conversation after reading faculty emails that he believed contained “unsubstantiated claims or … fear tactics.”
In an email sent on Oct. 20, Bert cited an LA Times article that stated 99% of K-12 instructors at LA Unified ultimately complied with a vaccine mandate by the required deadline.
“The bottom line: Vaccine mandates WORK in getting nearly all educators (even the hesitant) vaccinated,” wrote Bert, adding, “There is good reason to believe that the mandate would accomplish the same thing at LBCC as it did with LA Unified: extremely high vaccination rates (ultimately reducing the spread of Covid-19 and keeping us all safer).”
Political science professor Donald Douglas disagreed with the points made in Bert’s email and wrote a response criticizing the mandates.
“Please don’t forget that in our country liberty comes first,” wrote Douglas. “More specifically, people should have freedom of choice when making their own medical decisions. No one can be forced, against their will, and against their God-given constitutional rights, to inject a potentially deadly, toxic foreign substance into their bodies.”
Physical science professor Nigel Hancock shot back at Douglas with an email response on Oct. 20.
“While you are arguing for your liberty to infect your colleagues with a dangerous disease, your phrase ‘potentially deadly, toxic foreign substance’ is a wildly inaccurate way to describe substances that have been successfully administered well over 6. billion times to over 2. billion people around the world,” wrote Hancock.
In a later email, Douglas wrote, “It is not wrong for individuals and parents to be concerned. This is not a partisan issue, although it’s made out to be. Skepticism of science is healthy — it is scientific — and without such otherwise potentially errant policy applications may cause irreparable damage to individuals, families, and society.”
The vaccine mandate for students and faculty attending in-person classes next semester was passed by the Board of Trustees on Oct. 22.
Faculty members will be required to submit proof of vaccination by Jan. 3, while the student deadline is Jan. 24.