W&M students readmitted after vaccine policy change
Four William & Mary students who had been disenrolled because of noncompliance with the school’s previous vaccine requirements were readmitted for the spring semester after the school’s recent policy change.
The university announced last week it would no longer require vaccines or boosters for students after Attorney General Jason Miyares issued an official opinion concluding that “absent specific authority conferred by the General Assembly, public institutions of higher education in Virginia may not require vaccination against COVID19 as a general condition of students’ enrollment or in-person attendance.”
Last fall, 11 students, including nine undergraduates and two graduate students, were disenrolled as a result of noncompliance with vaccine requirements.
After the recent policy change, “three undergraduates and one graduate student were readmitted for Spring 2022,” chief operating officer and COVID-19 director Amy Sebring said in a statement.
Ahead of the fall 2021 semester, the university required all faculty, staff and students to be vaccinated, barring appropriate religious and medical exemptions. Those who did not record their vaccination records or exemptions prior to the deadline faced disenrollment or leave without pay as well as potential termination of employment.
The first change to those requirements came in the wake of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Jan. 15 executive order prohibiting vaccine requirements for state employees. Soon after, the school issued an update that stated it would no longer require vaccines and boosters for staff and faculty.
According to W&M director of news and media Suzanne Clavet, “no employees were terminated or placed on leave without pay over non-compliance with COVID-19 vaccination policy.”
W&M had reported that the vaccination rate for students living on campus was close to 100%, with almost 95% of the employee population also having been vaccinated.