The Pennsylvania State University System Thursday altered the waiver it’s requiring students to sign before they can return to the system’s campuses, participate in activities or even take classes online, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The nation’s third largest state-sponsored university system with more than 110,000 full-time students, Penn State operates 24 separate physical campuses throughout the state.
Until Thursday morning, students signing into the university portal to register for classes, enter a remote classroom, access health care information, or check financial aid packages had to sign off on a waiver that declared the students “assumed any and all risk” in relation to the coronavirus.
“I assume any and all risk of exposure to COVID-19 that may result from attending Penn State, or participating in Penn State activities, and I acknowledge that exposure or infection may result in personal injury, illness, permanent disability, or death,” the waiver said.
Students, parents and legal experts balked at signing off on the waiver due to the overly broad language shielding the university from any negligence in the spread of the coronavirus.
Students were required to acknowledge the waiver, essentially acknowledging their compliance with it, before being able to access any of the information or service on the portal, whether or not the student was on campus or intended to take in-person classes.
With the change, students can bypass the acknowledgement and enter the portal to do whatever business they needed to access on the student portal.
The language of the waiver was also changed to acknowledge that the university is taking actions to mitigate the spread of the virus but that such actions are not absolute.
“Even with the mitigation steps taken by Penn State and my compliance with this Compact, I acknowledge that Penn State cannot prevent the risks of exposure to COVID-19 that may result from attending Penn State or participating in Penn State activities,” the statement reads.
It also states that “To reiterate: This is not a waiver and was not intended to be. It is an acknowledgement.”
“Equally important, if not more so, than the changed language is Penn State’s public announcement of its understanding of the compact: that it isn’t meant to limit the university’s legal obligation to take reasonable, prudent precautions to safeguard students’ health,” Heidi Li Feldman, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who focuses on legal liability, said.