As of this week, on a per-capita basis, New Hampshire is leading the country in COVID-19 vaccine distribution: nearly 60% of the population has received at least one dose, and an impressive 91.82% of distributed vaccines have been administered. With such impressive figures, you would expect the Dartmouth campus to be happy with Governor Chris Sununu’s leadership. However, you would be wrong.
In late March, Governor Sununu announced that vaccines would be available to all residents above the age of sixteen — with one major caveat. To prioritize New Hampshire residents, out-of-state students would be barred from scheduling appointments, as a result of rigid identification requirements The only acceptable forms of identification were a New Hampshire driver’s license or a payroll document denoting an in-state address. Inevitably, students were upset — and for legitimate reason. While The Review has argued in the past that students differ from NH residents and that concern arises when they influence state election outcomes, COVID-19 does not decipher between who is and is not a resident. The reality is that students — 56% of Hanover’s population — are living locally now, and from a community perspective, it is important for vaccines to be accessible.
In turn, even town manager Julia Griffin, whose principal hobby seems to be denigrating the Dartmouth students who keep the Town of Hanover financially afloat, expressed support for student vaccine access. Members of the Dartmouth Democrats even participated in a joint conference with state politicians to express their discontent. Nevertheless, amidst the brouhaha, many students managed to be vaccinated anyways.
Despite student eligibility restrictions, the Upper Valley Public Health Council held a priority vaccination event for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) individuals, which attracted over 400 attendees, including many Dartmouth students. While it is true that Black and Hispanic people have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 nationally, particularly in high-density urban environments, Grafton County is 92.5% white, and the Upper Valley is by no means a densely-populated area. Further, according to The COVID Tracking Project, in New Hampshire, white people exhibit the highest per-capita COVID death rate of any racial group. In turn, the case for priority BIPOC vaccinations in the Upper Valley is not a scientific one, but rather a woke one. And wokeism provided one way for students to bypass the Governor’s restriction on student vaccination.
Another way in which students evaded the Governor’s order was by taking advantage of inconsistent identification monitoring. Accounts quickly circulated on Librex, a popular anonymous social media platform used by Dartmouth students, that vaccination site officials were not enforcing the ID requirements stipulated by the state and were accepting a much wider range of documentation. However, after this short period of identification non-enforcement, the state facility in West Lebanon tightened its protocol and began denying vaccination to many students.
Even with this procedural tightening at the state vaccination center, many students were still able to slip through the cracks. Students living off-campus did not face the same scrutiny as students living in dorms; many expressed being admitted after showing proof of lease. Some students even manipulated their documentation to make it appear they were living off-campus. An anonymous ‘23, whom The Review independently verified, easily edited the text on a PDF bank statement to reflect their friend’s off-campus address; that simple address change was enough to be accepted, even as many students were turned away.
While the State Response center in West Lebanon was comparatively strict on ID verification, other vaccination sites were extremely lenient. On April 10, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center vaccinated a significant number of students, many of whom reported only being required to present their student ID.
While campus activists mobilized in protest of the state’s initial decision, many students simply put their heads down and discovered novel ways to be vaccinated. Ultimately, none of this rigamarole matters anymore: On April 8, Governor Sununu acknowledged that vaccine supply was quickly outstripping demand and swiftly reversed course, announcing that out-of-state residents, including students, would be eligible for vaccination on April 19.
This news provides great optimism to the Dartmouth community, and particularly the Class of 2023, whose members hope to experience their upcoming sophomore summer without burdensome COVID-19 restrictions. That said, any optimism is conditioned on the College acting rationally. Dartmouth has already announced that COVID-19 vaccinations will be mandatory for students returning in the fall. Thanks to the state’s remarkably efficient vaccine rollout, there is no reason why the college cannot apply the same vaccination requirement to students returning for the summer. If the overwhelming majority of students are vaccinated, continuing strict COVID-19 measures, gathering limits and mask requirements would be illogical. Resuming in-person learning and Greek life would be sensible.
Unfortunately, the Dartmouth administration is not pragmatic. It has already announced it will be barring all family members, regardless of vaccination status, from attending the Class of 2021’s outdoor graduation ceremony in mid-June. Further, the College recently revealed that the majority of classes this summer will be virtual. While administrators and bureaucrats may seek to prolong their work-from-home vacations, students and many professors are eager to resume in-person learning. Refusing to re-open campus this summer, even as students and faculty receive immunity at extraordinary rates, is absurd.
Students and alumni must pressure the Dartmouth administration to resume regular operations once mass vaccination is soon achieved. The Review will continue to monitor further re-opening developments and hold the College accountable.
Bravo,
Kevin!