Students face $750 fee and must wear masks indoors if they show up to their West Virginia college without proof they're vaccinated
- Unvaccinated students must social distance and take weekly Covid tests
- They will also have limited access to campus facilities at Wesleyan College
- If they do not follow the rules they face 'student judicial action,' college says
Students will face a $750 fine if they show up to campus without a vaccine and will be required to wear masks inside, Wesleyan College in West Virginia has warned.
Unvaccinated students will be required to social distance, need weekly Covid tests and have limited access to campus facilities.
If they do not follow these rules they will face 'student judicial action,' the liberal arts college in Buckhannon said.
Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 will also need to fork out $250 to quarantine on campus if they are unable to return home.
Students will face a $750 fine if they show up to campus without a vaccine and will be required to wear masks inside, Wesleyan College (pictured) in West Virginia has warned
'That fee is going to be used to cover the expenses that will come with increased testing and other resources that the college will have to utilize and deploy to keep every student safe,' Dean James Moore told CBS affiliate WDTV.
Vaccinated students 'may return to normal on-campus activity and are not required to wear a mask unless they choose to do so,' the college said.
'The safety of each and every member of the campus community is the College's highest priority,' the university said.
'We continue to urge all members of the Wesleyan campus community to follow all safety and public health protocols.'
Wesleyan College Dean James Moore
The university said that around 90 percent of its faculty and staff had received the vaccine and 'a large percentage' of students have already confirmed they've had the shot.
Wesleyan says they are not forcing students to have the vaccine but that they would consider doing so pending any further ruling by the Food and Drug Administration on the vaccines' current emergency status.
West Virginia has a seven-day average of 425 daily coronavirus cases, a 750 percent increase on the start of July.
Scientist say that, like much of the United States, the spike in infections is being driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant which first emerged in India.
Wesleyan is not the first college to take a hardline approach to protecting its students and staff from Covid.
Last month it was reported that an incoming college freshman had been denied her $200,000 scholarship to Brigham Young University–Hawaii (BYUH) because she refused to take the vaccine.
Olivia Sandor, 18, says she lost a $200,000 scholarship and was denied admission to Brigham Young University–Hawaii after requesting exemption from the school's COVID-19 vaccine requirement due to a pre-existing medical condition
Olivia Sandor, 18, said she couldn't have the shot because of a pre-existing medical condition.
Sandor, who suffers from Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), shared her story on Sean Hannity's Fox News program and explained how she'd requested an exemption from the school's vaccination requirement after her team of medical providers advised against her getting the COVID-19 shot.
But the university denied her request for exemption - and told her to re-enroll after getting vaccinated.
Sandor developed GBS after receiving an influenza vaccine in 2019 and was paralyzed from the waist down for over a month as a result.
She said that while attending BYUH was her dream, the risks associated with the coronavirus vaccine do not outweigh the reward.
'I do not want to relapse and have another episode of Guillain-Barre,' she told Hannity. 'It's really, truly not worth it to me.'
The exemption letter written by Sandor's doctor, and made public by Turning Point USA, reads in part: 'Because of [Sandor's] medical history I believe a COVID vaccine or another influenza vaccine will endanger her health and possibly her life' and that she 'should avoid those vaccines indefinitely'.
However, her request was met with denial from the university via email.
Sandor appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News last month to share her outrage at BYU-Hawaii's decision to deny her admission over her COVID-19 vaccination status
Sandor submitted an letter from her doctor (pictured above) requesting exemption from BYUH's COVID-19 vaccination requirement due to her history of Guillain-Barre Syndrome
'After careful consideration of your request for a medical exemption, we regret that we cannot accommodate your request,' the email read.
'Due to our unique location, diverse student population, and daily interaction with international tourists at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we must take extra precautions to protect our campus and community.'
The university also encouraged her to considering attending BYUH when she is able to be 'fully vaccinated' or to 'consider attendance at one of [their] other church universities'.
Sandor said that since BYUH did not alert students of the vaccination mandate until mid-June she doesn't know what she is going to do about college.
'All those scholarships are gone,' she said. 'I really don't know where I'm going to turn or what my next steps are.'
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