A Rutgers University student says that the university is preventing him from taking online classes due to his vaccination status.
Hollar, going into his senior year, decided to take all of his classes online when he transferred in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic.
“I’m not in an at-risk age group,” Hollar explained in an interview with NJ.com. “I’m healthy, and I work out. I don’t find COVID to be scary.”
“If someone wants to be vaccinated,” he continued, “that’s fine with me, but I don’t think they should be pushed.”
Last year, taking all his classes online posed no problem. However, things have changed since Rutgers introduced vaccine mandates for students on all campuses in the Spring of this year.
Initially, Hollar believed he would manage to get by as he lives 70 miles away from the university, and not one of his classes is in person. But the university disagrees and only allows unvaccinated students to take specific online classes — for some reason — none of which Hollar is taking to graduate.
According to Hollar, the university requires all students to fill out an online survey covering all things COVID, including vaccination status. Afterwards, everything changed.
“After submitting the survey, I got no pop-up indication that I still needed the vaccine — like I had seen in the past — and since I was online and the survey said I was all set, I assumed the emails in my inbox pertaining to (the vaccine) must apply to in-person students,” Hollar explained.
“This turned out not to be the case.”
He awoke on August 27 to learn that he had been banned from all of his university accounts, including email, and could not pay his tuition.
He has since attempted to contact the university and received some guidance. However, even if he successfully obtains an exemption due to the university’s absurd policy, he will likely miss three weeks of classes or more, as the decision will take two to four weeks.
For anyone who has been to university, three weeks of missed classwork and assignments are easily enough to force someone to drop out.
Additionally, despite what staff initially told Hollar, the university has refused to issue waivers for anyone who has not submitted a request for exemption after August 23.
In short, it looks like Hollar may be screwed if he wants to continue his education at Rutgers.
When asked whether he would take the vaccine or transfer, Hollar did not miss a beat.
“I find it concerning for the vaccine to be pushed by the university rather than my doctor,” Hollar said. “I’ll probably have to transfer to a different university.”
“I don’t care if I have access to campus. I don’t need to be there. They could ban me. I just want to be left alone.”
