A federal judge rejected a lawsuit by students objecting to Indiana University’s fall semester vaccine requirement, AOL News reported on Monday, July 19, 2021 (read story here).
The school offers exemptions, but requires exempted individuals to “follow separate COVID-19 mitigation strategies,” AOL News said, without specifying what they are. The university’s website says they must wear masks in public, be tested regularly, quarantine if exposed, and move to isolation housing during a serious outbreak.
Despite the students’ assertion the policy violates their rights, “This university policy isn’t forced vaccination,” the judge wrote in his ruling. He explained, “The students have options — taking the vaccine, applying for a religious exemption, applying for a medical exemption, applying for a medical deferral, taking a semester off, or attending another university.”
The ruling, the first that involves an institution of higher learning, follows one by a federal judge in Texas who threw out a similar lawsuit brought by health care workers against a hospital with a similar vaccination policy. Both judges are Republicans; that judge was appointed by Reagan, while the judge in the Indiana case was appointed by Trump.