Quinnipiac University plans to fine unvaccinated students and to restrict their WiFi this upcoming fall, the school announced Monday in an internal letter.
“Our goal is to protect the health of our entire university community,” the Hamden, Connecticut, school of about 10,000 wrote to students who are unvaccinated. “In order to accomplish this we must know if you have been vaccinated.”
About 600 students have yet to get vaccinated. The deadline is September 14. If students do not adequately “upload” their status, they might get hit with an imposed fine as high as $2,275 each semester.
For the first two weeks of the term, the fine will be $100 per week, which will increase by $25 every two weeks. Likewise, any student who does not participate in “weekly, on-campus testing” will receive a $100 fine. All unvaccinated students will not be able to access the school’s WiFi.
“Access to the Quinnipiac network and Wi-Fi system will be revoked if a student has not fulfilled the vaccination requirement by Sept. 14,” noted a local news outlet. “Fees and penalties will be waived for students who have received one dose of a two-dose vaccine if the second dose is completed by Sept. 14.”
Hundreds of schools across the country have implemented vaccine requirements. Large schools such as Indiana University, Rutgers University, Michigan State University, and Tulane University have all done so. The University of Michigan has gone a step further by requiring faculty and students to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.
Some students praised the requirement in an interview with the university’s newspaper. One senior student claimed Quinnipiac’s decision does not “take away our freedom.” Within five days of coming back to campus, the university “strongly recommends” students get a negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. Classes begin on Aug. 30.
Quinnipiac did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A university spokesman indicated to Boston 7 News that 30 students forwarded their medical information after the letter went out.
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