by Benjamin Yount
The University of Wisconsin System doesn’t want to lose its federal grant money, so everyone who works there is going to have to get vaccinated.
UW President Tommy Thompson on Wednesday said the school will comply with President Biden’s mandate that all federal contractors require their employees to be vaccinated.
“We cannot afford to jeopardize millions of dollars in federal contracts, which are integral to our academic and research missions,” Thompson said in a statement.
Thompson did not put a price tag on just how much money the university gets in federal money each year.
Most of the people who work at the UW’s campuses have already gotten their shots.
Not every campus reports its vaccine statuses, but some do. UW-Madison says 95% of employees are vaccinated. At River Falls it’s 87%, in Milwaukee it’s 82%, the Green Bay campus is 79% vaccinated, while Oshkosh is 77% vaccinated.
President Biden’s mandate requires everyone who works for a federal contractor receive a vaccination by December 8th.
“We intend to be in compliance with the federal executive order on vaccine mandates,” Thompson added.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, in late August pushed through a new rule that forbids the UW System from requiring vaccines for students or employees.
On Wednesday, Nass said Thompson is skirting that ban.
“Today’s announcement from the UW System is just another deceitful action by a state agency that has a clear purpose of avoiding compliance with state law to protect their excessive Covid-19 mandates and now adopt vaccination requirements,” Nass said. “The actions of the UW System on Covid-19 are not about the science or public health. Rather, the UW System leadership has now aligned itself with the Biden Administration’s Covid-19 politics.”
Nass once again asked Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to sue the UW System and enforce the late-August rule.
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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.
