Rutgers University is barring a student from virtual classes because he is unvaccinated, according to NJ.com.
The New Jersey university locked Logan Hollar out of his school email and account in August when he tried to pay his tuition. The 22-year-old college senior said he has not been vaccinated and doesn't intend to be, so he signed up for only virtual classes in the fall. When he called the school's vaccine hotline after being locked out, he was told he had to be vaccinated even if his classes were all remote. He has since missed the first week of classes.
"When they put out the guidance in March, I was reading through all the verbiage, which was if you plan to return to campus, you need to be vaccinated," Hollar said. "I figured I wouldn't be part of that because all my classes were remote."
Rutgers was the first university in the nation to require student vaccinations, but it does not mandate them for remote-degree programs. Even though Hollar attends only virtual classes, he is not part of a remote-degree program.
"I'm not in an at-risk age group. I'm healthy, and I work out. I don't find COVID to be scary," Hollar said. "If someone wants to be vaccinated, that's fine with me, but I don't think they should be pushed."
Hollar's stepfather, Keith Williams, who is vaccinated, said he was "dumbfounded" by the university's decision to lock his stepson out of his account.
"I believe in science, I believe in vaccines, but I am highly confident that COVID-19 and variants do not travel through computer monitors by taking online classes," Williams said.
Hollar said he has no plans to return to campus before graduation and has asked the university to waive his vaccine requirement. University staff have waived the requirement for some students, but they have already denied Hollar's request once, saying he had missed the deadline for the semester's waiver requests.
"I'll probably have to transfer to a different university," Hollar said.