More colleges are taking action against students who refuse to be vaccinated. SUNY is the latest to ... [+]
The State University of New York (SUNY) has begun the process of deregistering students who have refused to abide by its requirement that they be vaccinated against Covid-19. The University had set a deadline of September 27 for all students attending a SUNY campus for in-person instruction to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
The number of students facing disenrollment is not yet clear. According to a university spokesperson, about 97% of SUNY students have complied with the mandate. A representative from Onondaga Community College told a Syracuse TV station that about 170 students of its students had not yet met the vaccination requirement. And in a statement to that same station, SUNY Oswego reported that it was “very close to 100 percent student compliance with the SUNY vaccine mandate.”
SUNY’s policy permits each campus to have a period of not more than 10 days after the September 28th deadline to work with students on an individual basis to ensure compliance with its vaccine policy. Students who have been deregistered but ultimately get the vaccine are likely to be reinstated.
SUNY’s announcement is the latest example of colleges and universities stepping up enforcement of their campus vaccination mandates, many of which were put in place following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in August.
The University of Virginia was one of the first to take action. In August, it informed more than 200 students who hadn’t complied with the school’s vaccine requirement that they would be disenrolled for the fall semester. Of the 238 students who were notified, only 49 were actually enrolled in fall courses.
As with other colleges that have threatened or begun disenrolling unvaccinated students, UVA said it took that step only after repeatedly informing students by email, text, phone calls, and calls to their parents that they were out of compliance.
Virginia has been followed by several other universities, including Virginia Tech, Xavier University in New Orleans, the University of New Mexico, Kean University in New Jersey, and the University of Maryland that have deregistered or said they will deregister students for not following campus vaccination requirements.
The actions come as concerns grow about students making or purchasing counterfeit vaccination documents. Buying fake vaccination cards has become a hot underground market with students shelling out anywhere from $25 to $200 for the falsified cards as they attempt to skirt the rules college officials have put in place.
The cheating doesn’t stop there. A new survey commissioned by Intelligent.com, reveals that 55% of unvaccinated students attending colleges that have mandated vaccinations admit to lying about their vaccine status.
Creating or purchasing a fake vaccination card was the most common form of deception, engaged in by 46% students who lied about being vaccinated. Nineteen percent of students reported that since their college didn’t require proof of vaccination, they were able to lie simply by saying they were vaccinated, either verbally or through a written statement. Sixteen percent faked a medical exemption, and 15% falsely claimed a religious exemption.
Although some of the cases where students have been deregistered from classes will end up in lawsuits, the courts have for the most part upheld the right of businesses and other organizations to impose vaccination requirements. And most college students appear to be on the side of such mandates. Multiple surveys have found that more than 70% of students favor requiring vaccinations at their colleges.
According to a database maintained by the Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 1,000 colleges and universities have some form of vaccination mandate in place. Based on what we know at this time, it appears the vast majority of students have complied with those requirements. But noncompliance by even a small percentage of students presents not only a campus health hazard but also a conundrum for how institutions should deal with vaccine deniers and deceivers.
What should the consequences be for students who defy vaccine mandates? Should those who fake vaccine documentation be charged with what is likely a crime? Should those who simply refuse to comply be ultimately shown the door as SUNY and other schools have done?
It’s a safe bet that most colleges don’t want to escalate tensions and conflicts with students over this matter. They want to keep their students enrolled. But at the same time, administrators can’t simply ignore the fact that students who flaunt safety rules they don’t like pose an unacceptable risk to others on campus. If students refuse to abide by a vaccination requirement even after multiple attempts to secure their compliance, disenrolling them is not an unreasonable step to take.
