Is This Even Legal? Colleges Requiring COVID Vaccine To Return, New Jersey University On The List

My oldest daughter, Brianna, just came home from college to be with us for Easter. This is only the second time we've seen her since COVID happened. While at school, she got COVID and I was not there to mother her like I wanted to be. She was so far away and it was awful.  I also hate that her college experience at Florida State has been a bust. She sits home at her apartment and goes to online school. No pep rallies, no football games, no parties, no clubs...just online school.  It sucks to know that her tuition is spent this way and she is not getting anything out of it but some online knowledge. You and I both know it is not the same.  So what is the solution?  Hell if I know.  I want her to get the college experience but I'm scared, we all are. This is uncharted territory but maybe it's time to make a move.  There are a growing list of colleges that are requiring students to get their full COVID vaccine before being allowed back to class or in-person activities and New Jersey and New York universities dominate it.  Here are the current list of schools requiring proof of full COVID vaccinations in order to return:

• Rutgers University — New Brunswick, NJ
• Cornell University — Ithaca, NY
• Ithaca College — Ithaca, NY
• University of Notre Dame — South Bend, IN
• Duke University — Durham, NC
• Northeastern University — Boston, MA
• Brown University — Providence, RI
• Roger Williams University — Bristol, RI
• Nova Southeastern University — Boward County, FL
• Fort Lewis College — Durango, CO
• St. Edward’s University — Austin, TX
• Syracuse University — Syracuse, NY

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Some of these schools have not yet decided if they will also mandate employees to get their COVID-19 vaccines which is puzzling to me.  Wether you agree with the mandate or not, I'm simply miffed that the schools that decided to do this are not going all in. Why would students have to be vaccinated and the staff not have to be?

Other schools like Northeastern University in Boston are also requiring students to show proof of full vaccination before being allowed into any in-person classes in an effort to achieve herd immunity on campus.

Of course the big question is, can schools legally tell students what to do with their bodies in order to return to an in-person education? The answer is YES. Learning institutions are allowed to form their own rules because students have the option to not attend that school.  However, they are required by law to allow exemptions for medical or religious beliefs.

I'm not sure if vaccinated students would still have to wear masks during in-person learning at all of these schools or not, I guess we're all learning as we go, students and decision-makers alike.
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