How do I find a new advisor for an unvaccinated graduate student?

Question

Summary: I am closing my laboratory, and need to find a new placement for a PhD student who has strong anti-vaccination beliefs. Every professor on campus knows about it. How I can help them find new lab?

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One bright, well-performing individual in my group is unvaccinated (against everything, apparently) due to personal beliefs. This individual is not outspoken about these beliefs, but their status as such has been spread not only within our group and department, but to many related groups. Indeed, upon learning this I myself stopped meeting in-person with the individual.

I am closing my laboratory, and seeking new homes for my graduate students (see here if curious). I am having zero luck identifying a new advisor. The student is increasingly frantic; homes have been found for the entire remaining group. It is clear to that student what the problem is, and why no one will engage. I am now hearing comments from them that suggest to me that they will exit and "give up."

My university does not allow sharing of vaccination status, so this cannot be made explicit in any way. I am in the USA, at an R1. They will not get vaccinated, and our program does not allow "unsupervised" students. I would love to pass this matter off to my administration or their counsel, but we have been told to handle this at the departmental level.

How can I resolve this in a more positive way?

Outcome: The student quit.

Happy Update: I have hired her through my new industry position. It is remote work.

Details below.

Answer 1

Advisor-advisee relationships are not just based on scientific fit, but must also be based on a good personal fit. Nobody is obliged to take on a student, or if they can be obliged to, they can't be forced to be a good advisor (thanks, jakebeal).

If your peers have learned that your student has made some objectionable and unresolved decisions in their past, I see little you can or should do. You specifically mentioned "personal" and not "religious" beliefs, so unless your student is a member of a religious sect with a long-standing opposition to vaccines and wants to start a legal route over religious discrimination, there's not a ton of options for them.

I wouldn't want to supervise a student that doesn't want to help end the pandemic, either. I think there is very little conscientious people owe the willfully unvaccinated at this point.

Answer 2

As the student’s current advisor, you do have some responsibility to help the student find a path forward with their PhD. But that responsibility is not infinite; the student is also responsible for their own decisions and actions, and if they want to continue in the program, it’s their responsibility to make themselves attractive enough that someone else will find the idea of supervising them appealing.

A few things you can do are:

1. Consider looking for a way to allow the student to transfer to your new department and keep working with you, if this is compatible with your own personal philosophy about what vaccination preferences you’re willing to tolerate in a student, and with the new institution’s covid policies.

2. Talk to your colleagues and encourage them to take on your student, praising the student’s good qualities as much as you honestly can. If you feel that your lack of ability to mention the student’s vaccination status makes it ethically impossible for you to advocate for the student in such a way, I think a way to resolve this dilemma is to ask the student to give their permission for you to mention their vaccination refusal, waiving the privacy-related constraint. Make it clear that if they will not give you that permission, you will be unable to advocate for them.

3. If the above advocacy fails, or if the student refuses to waive the privacy restriction, have a heart to heart talk with your student, and explain to them that you did your best to help them find a new advisor, but did not succeed. Explain to them that at that point, as long as they refuse to be vaccinated you do not think they will be successful in continuing with their studies.

After taking these steps, in my opinion you have fulfilled your ethical obligations. It’s up to the student to decide what to do next in such a situation. I don’t see that there is anything else you can or should do.

Answer 3

Consider talking to the university's legal counsel if it's because of religious (or other legally protected) reasons.

If this student is refusing vaccination due to genuine religious beliefs, then I would recommend that you talk to the university's legal counsel to figure out what you can do. Discrimination against someone for their religious beliefs is illegal, and that would likely include indirect discrimination as a result of inflexibly applying rules and regulations that have a disparate impact on a protected group. If this is the case, then the university either needs to find him an advisor, or they need to waive the requirement that he has one, in order to protect themselves from a discrimination lawsuit.

If you're in an area where things like political beliefs are legally protected under anti-discrimination legislation, this would also apply if their reason for objecting for vaccination falls under any other legally protected reason.

Additionally, in the comments you've mentioned that the location you live in has a government mandate banning vaccine mandates by private organizations. If your student is unable to find an advisor because of their vaccination status and will be forced to withdraw from their degree as a result, that would amount to a de facto vaccination mandate, and would place the university at a great deal of legal risk if they were to make a complaint to the state government. I would definitely recommend that you speak to the university's legal counsel as a result.

Answer 4

First, I am amazed that they were able to enter a college in the United States while unvaccinated. I didn't know that there were colleges that did not mandate standard vaccines. I could see not mandating HPV or influenza, but I am amazed the situation exists for things like pertussis.

Your ethical obligation is to try; it is not your obligation to succeed. This drama is playing itself out all over the United States right now over a wide range of settings. The problem is that it sounds like there is no way to develop a reasonable accommodation around the student's status.

This is an interesting question that should be answered by the university's legal counsel.

Your institution doesn't require vaccinations so it is accepted as part of the contract that students do not need to be vaccinated to enter programs there. The student needs an advisor and found one, but that advisor is leaving.

I would say that this is not a problem for you, but that the student should engage legal counsel. The institution has a duty to perform, but there is no functional way to force faculty to take on a student.

There is a bizarre contradiction present. The student was admitted with a hidden deficit. That deficit is unrelated to the performance of their duties as a student. The institution entered into a contract with them. The faculty probably do not have to take a student as an advisee but the institution has an obligation to perform.

There may be a legal duty to assign that student to a faculty member. However, the faculty member cannot be made to write letters of recommendation or even to prevent them from recommending against hiring the student.

I would say your ethical duty is complete, but I am not sure the institution's legal duty is complete. Further, I am not sure there could be a path for success for that student even if a faculty member is required to take them on.

If the student leaves, does the institution owe them all the potential lost wages for their time there as well as refund tuition? They entered in good faith. They performed as required. They did not fail to meet the institution's standards.

There are illnesses that prevent vaccination, they are uncommon but they exist. There are also treatments for certain illnesses that eliminate the immunity normally granted by vaccines.

Should those people who either cannot be vaccinated or have been vaccinated but have no immunity be banned from colleges? Generally, colleges grant medical exemptions certified by a health care provider but that isn't what happened here. I would say this is an institutional failure.

Answer 5

One of the ways to defend against Covid-19 is to put on masks. For example, we have only 16,499 cases per 24 million populations in Taiwan so far. The major reason I believe is that most of us (over 99%) put on surgical masks. (Our vaccinated rate is low compare to other countries)

If you cannot convince the student to be vaccinated for whatever reason (be religious belief or not), can you persuade the student to put on the mask?

If the student still refuse to do so, let them go. If the student is willing to put on the mask, then finding a professor to accept them may be easier. If still no one would take them, then you have done your best to keep them.

Good Luck !

Answer 6

If you really need to help them, then I suggest that the first step is to get a commitment from them that they will do whatever is necessary to protect those that they work with. Masks, isolation (zoom), whatever. If they are willing to make that a top priority - no excuses, then proceed to the second step, otherwise tell them that you can't help them as it would put others at risk.

The second step is to inform anyone that you recommend them to that they aren't vaccinated and are therefore a potential public health risk, but that they have promised to take all necessary precautions. You may, in some jurisdictions, need their permission to have this conversation with others (IANAL), but if not given and you can't do this, then they are tying your hands from ethical behavior.

If you are in a field in which people need to work closely with one another, such as a lab, then this might actually be impossible. In a field like math it would work, since weekly zoom meetings and electronic communication is both possible and safe. But if people need to huddle over lab equipment then I'd find it hard to come to a solution.

For a belief to be ethical, it must take account of the valid needs of others. If not, it is just selfishness as well as dangerous to public health. And dangerous to public health beyond the bounds of the lab itself, since you have no control over how they interact when away from work. But if they are willing to take responsibility and the physical constraints make it possible, then you can safely (and ethically) work with them.

Furthermore, having a belief and acting on that belief are two different things.

And if you can't work with them, it isn't because you reject their belief. It is because they are a danger to the community.

Answer 7

Check if anyone in the faculty holds the same beliefs. That may be his only chance. If none, go with the university's guidelines. That falls under the jurisdiction of the College Secretary and the university's legal office.

Answer 8

I agree with other commentators that you should take whatever action is reasonable to find a new place for the student, but their acceptance depends on the decisions of others. Your obligation is to make reasonable efforts to assist the student to find a new place, but you can only do what you can do --- you are not obliged to guarantee successful placement of the student. You have stated that the student is a bright and well-performing student, so presumably you can give a reference that reflects that reality. Aside from helping to identify possible placements and giving a good reference to the student, it is difficult to see what more you can reasonably do.

If you are concerned that vaccination status is having an adverse impact here, I would recommend you seek to have potential laboratory supervisors apply whatever are the operative university rules --- i.e., if there are vaccination mandates at the university then the student should be bound by them, and if there are not then the student should be free to attend a university laboratory without vaccination. You can seek information on university policies and applicable laws from the university legal counsel, and they can also give guidance on whether or not it is legitimate for university personnel to take account of the vaccination status of the student in their decisions. Seeking advice from the university legal counsel would be prudent in any event, since there are also possible legal issues relating to privacy breaches (see below).

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Possible privacy violation issue: Notwithstanding the limitation on your own responsibilities, an important issue here is for your institution to ensure that relevant privacy laws/policies are being respected, and take action if there has been any breach of applicable rules. Your post is unclear about the details, but from your description it sounds like the student either did not disclose their vaccination status, or did not disclose it widely. In most jurisdictions, medical information taken from students is subject to privacy laws/polices, and this generally means that the medical status of a student cannot be disclosed except on a "needs to know" basis, and with various privacy protections. The legal situation in the US is complicated, but universities are covered by FERPA in many cases, and this imposes privacy obligations on the university. You also state that your university rules prevent sharing of vaccination status.

Your post states that the student's medical status has been spread around within your group and department and to other related groups. That sounds like it would probably entail a violation of privacy rules in FERPA and in your university rules. If so, that could lead to a complaint against the university and possible legal action either under FERPA or contract law. Since you are closing your laboratory, this is not an issue for you personally, but it is something that you should bring to the attention of the Head of School and possibly also HR/legal counsel at the university.

One of the other answers here suggests that you should encourage the student to waive their privacy obligations in order for you to directly discuss the issue with potential laboratories, and you should tell them you cannot effectively advocate for them if they are unwilling to waive these rights. I would strongly recommend against doing that without first speaking to the university legal counsel. It could raise further legal issues relating to the privacy obligations of the university.

Answer 9

As an uninjected graduate student who won't be compromising on this, it was really a non-issue for me. I did everything online.

In-person was always unnecessary, and I think classes should have been in a distanced format anyway and it was a move backwards to restart in-person classes.

Anyway the point is, unless there is a compelling reason for the person to meet in person their vaccination status should be completely irrelevant.