Unvaccinated Student Says College Won't Let Him Attend Virtual Classes

A New Jersey college student claims that Rutgers University will not allow him to attend virtual classes because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Logan Hollar, 22, told NJ.com that he had no intention of returning to campus for his senior year and that all of his classes were being taught remotely.

While he received multiple emails about the school's policy requiring students returning to campus to be fully vaccinated, he assumed it did not apply to him because he would be staying at his home in Sandyston, nearly 70 miles away.

"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."

He realized something was wrong when he went to pay his tuition bill on August 27 and found that he was locked out of his account.

Rutgers officials defended their decision, explaining that only students enrolled in the fully online program were granted waivers from the vaccine requirement.

"Registering for classes that are fully remote (synchronous/asynchronous) is not the same as being enrolled in a fully online degree-granting program," Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin said.

Hollar said that he will likely transfer to another school instead of getting vaccinated.

"I find it concerning for the vaccine to be pushed by the university rather than my doctor," he said. "I'll probably have to transfer to a different university."