Student athletes get vaccine victory in court
The Sixth Circuit ruled this month that Western Michigan University cannot keep unvaccinated student athletes from playing on sports teams when those individuals have COVID vaccine exemptions.
One student told Campus Reform that he objected to the university forcing students to get vaccinated.
Western Michigan University can no longer force their student-athletes to take the COVID-19 vaccine in order to participate in sports after losing a federal appeal.
This appeal decision is the latest development in a suit by 16 student athletes against the university.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asserted October 7 that student athletes with vaccine exemptions can play for their teams, according to MLIVE.com.
WMU’s policy before had restricted players’ ability to compete, but did preserve students’ status as team members.
Campus Reform reached out to a few students for their reactions to the appeal loss.
“I don’t believe anyone should be forced to get vaccinated,” Connor Elliot, a student at WMU told Campus Reform.
When asked about why the university seemed to be pushing so hard to have all student-athletes vaccinated, Elliot stated, “I think that they are so swept up in this COVID stuff that they aren’t even thinking about the fact that each member of the campus community is an individual.”
”I think they need to step back and realize that not everyone needs or wants this vaccine and forcing them to get it to come to class or play sports is incredibly immoral,” Elliot added.
Campus Reform reached out to WMU for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
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