The University of Alabama (UA) and Auburn University (AU) announced on Friday that to keep federal funding, the colleges must comply with President Joe Biden’s Sept. 9 executive order on vaccine mandates for all employees. Employees must be vaccinated by Dec. 8 or be discharged. “Failure to comply will place The University of Alabama in jeopardy of losing hundreds of millions of dollars that we receive through federal contracts and awards, as well as thousands of jobs funded, in part, by those dollars,” UA said in a press release to faculty, staff, and student employees. As part of his “Path Out of the Pandemic: COVID-19 Action Plan,” Biden enacted Executive Order 14042 that directed the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force to “issue guidance” mandating vaccines for federal contractors and subcontractors, which includes public universities. “As a federal contractor, The University of Alabama, like most higher education institutions, must comply with …