A Rutgers University student claims he is blocked from attending classes virtually because he is not vaccinated.
Logan Hollar, a senior at Rutgers, told NJ.com that he previously took virtual classes for the 2020 school year. He has not received a COVID-19 vaccination and has chosen all-virtual classes for his senior year.
Despite being remote, Hollar says the college has completely blocked him from taking online courses.
Hollar stated, “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”. “I figured I wouldn’t be part of that because all my classes were remote”, he added.
Back in March, Rutgers announced that all students must be vaccinated before arriving on campus for fall 2021. Students were allowed to request religious or medical exemption and those in online programs would not be required to get vaccinated.
Hollar said he switched his classes online in August and was asked to complete a vaccine survey where he checked a box that said it didn’t apply to him because he was remote. After the survey, Hollar received several emails about vaccination.
In late August, Hollar claimed he was locked out of his student account and email. The university hotline told Hollar that he had to be vaccinated regardless of the fact that he was completely online.
I’m healthy and I work out. I don’t find COVID to be scary. If someone wants to be vaccinated, that’s fine with me, but I don’t think they should be pushed.
Logan Hollar
He was informed that he could request an exemption but his request was denied because he allegedly missed the cutoff deadline.
Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin said, “registering for classes that are fully remote (synchronous/asynchronous) is not the same as being enrolled in a fully online degree-granting program”.
Classes started September 1 and Hollar has yet to attend one. He said he has no plans to return to the campus in-person.
