Senate Council held its monthly meeting on Wednesday afternoon where members discussed the University’s success with Black History Month events, University vaccinations and immunizations and a newly passed drone policy.

It’s unfair that sports always seem to be the exception when it comes to rules regarding public health and New York City should be prioritizing public health instead.

The way to ensure the health of not only Port Authority employees, but also the reliability of public transit, is to make sure the people who have a hand in operating the system are able to do so safely and effectively. Port Authority employees should be vaccinated for themselves and the common good of Pittsburghers.

Pitt has begun the process of terminating the nine staff members, and disciplining the three faculty members, who are not in compliance with the University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Pitt’s vaccination policy, which requires that all students, faculty and staff be vaccinated against COVID-19, went into effect Monday. The stakes for unvaccinated students who don’t get an exemption are high — disenrollment for the spring semester.

Pitt’s Faculty Assembly met Wednesday afternoon in a hybrid fashion to discuss the faculty union vote, union contract negotiation and a report from the Senate Budget Policies Committee about Pitt's partnership with the Outlier program.

By offering a regular testing alternative to vaccination, the University spent a lot of time and resources catering to the slim percentage of holdouts who would be affected by a vaccine requirement.