SSU administration faced with criticism for lack of support for immunocompromised students

With Sonoma State requiring facial coverings to be worn inside all campus buildings and a reported 98.34% of students who are fully vaccinated as of Jan. 28, 2022, the average student will undoubtedly be safe and will most likely experience very mild symptoms associated with COVID-19. However, there still remains a small percentage of students that are at a higher risk of contracting the virus and aren’t being looked out for the way most able-bodied people are – the immunocompromised. 

According to the Sonoma County administrator's office, “vaccines are only 59 percent to 72 percent effective among immunocompromised individuals while being 90 to 94 percent effective among the rest of the population.” 

Immunodeficiency arises when there is a malfunction in the immune system, which increases the difficulty of responding adequately to an infection. Due to the increased vulnerability to infection, immunocompromised individuals must take extra steps to protect their health and well-being. These extra steps include, but are not limited to, receiving two doses of the vaccine as a booster, encouraging those around them to get vaccinated and opting to stay away from large gatherings. 

Since the return to in-person instruction that began at the start of the Fall 2021 semester, immunocompromised students are struggling to navigate school during a pandemic. Returning to in-person instruction makes it increasingly hard for immunocompromised individuals to steer clear of large gatherings. Some students are forced to adjust their personal schedules if their classes are not offered online, otherwise they risk falling behind. Some even have to take a leave of absence if they don't feel safe attending required classes that meet in-person, which only adds to the list of struggles for immunocompromised students. 

When reflecting on her experience as an immunocompromised student, Sonoma State alumna Emily Marfia stated, “I have not been to an in-person class since March of 2020. I essentially completed my entire degree online and I feel wildly underprepared … I felt discarded and lumped in with everyone else who is able-bodied. There could have been ways to accommodate if [Sonoma State] really wanted to but they did not.”

While looking at the SSU COVID-19 information page, there seems to be no resources or support for immunocompromised students and their families. On top of this, there is hardly any data to back up the percentage of students that are actually immunocompromised, which makes it difficult for staff to keep track of and accommodate these students. These lack of resources are not specific to Sonoma State, as the resource and information pages among the 23 CSU campuses are seemingly designed with the sole safety of able-bodied students in mind. 

Although it may be challenging for Sonoma State to make structural changes as able-bodied students are the majority, this does not mean that small accommodations shouldn’t be made. The University is notorious for having a lackadaisical approach in enforcing the COVID-19 safety protocols, adding to the stress and anxiety that many immunocompromised individuals have experienced throughout the pandemic.

 Immunocompromised students shouldn't have to be making compromises when it comes to their health and academics. Instead, SSU should be more adamant about making sure that all students, faculty and staff are wearing their masks correctly and being more diligent in checking for a completed daily wellness screening before entering campus buildings and school sanctioned events so that immunocompromised students feel secure enough in attending in-person classes. At the very least, Sonoma State could have additionally offered a larger variety of online courses especially with more than 140 approved in-person classes for the Spring 2022 semester. 

It has been long overdue that we, as a campus community, acknowledge that we have been looking at the pandemic through an extremely privileged lens. It’s valid for students to feel mournful over not being able to have a proper graduation ceremony or feeling like they have not been fully immersed in the “college experience”, however, these issues are inherently superficial when we take into consideration the amount of fear and the sacrifices that many immunocompromised individuals have lived with for nearly the past two years.

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