Louisiana State University Students Face Expulsion for Not Meeting Vaccine Mandate

Vaccination cards are pictured at a vaccination site in a file photograph. Paul Raje/Reuters

Louisiana State University (LSU) has started to unenroll students who are not in compliance with the university’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.

LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard posted on Twitter that the university is contacting 78 students to inform them they are being unenrolled for not meeting the vaccination requirement. The university in August announced that students must submit proof of first dose of vaccine by Sept. 10 and full vaccination by Oct. 15.

At a Wednesday press conference, LSU President William F. Tate said there were 400 non-compliant students. The conference came after a White House meeting where Tate briefed President Joe Biden and his pandemic response team on the university’s COVID-19 strategies.

“The updated number since the White House meeting is 78 students remain not in compliance,” Ballard wrote on Thursday. “The goal from the start has been to get everyone in compliance, but while the number has shrunk, those 78 are being contacted that they are being unenrolled from the university.”

Those students were offered to have half of their payments refunded, according to the email that was sent to them.

“This email is to notify you that you have been resigned from Louisiana State University and provided a 50 percent refund due to failure to comply with LSU’s Entry Test Verification procedures,” reads the message obtained by student newspaper The Daily Reveille. “As a student, you were sent numerous notifications regarding the Entry Test Requirement and reminders to comply.”

The students will have until 4 p.m. on Friday to provide the information required by LSU to secure their place, the email concluded.

“It’s both an unenrollment and a final warning, but if they don’t do it at that point, they remain unenrolled,” Ballard told The Daily Reveille. “The goal from the start is to get students in compliance and not for us to unenroll students, but they have to be in compliance to stay in the LSU community.”

University COVID-19 data shows there are currently 78 total active cases on campus—65 students and 13 staff members. Approximately 543 students have tested positive for the virus since May 9.

The LSU is not the first latest public institution to dismiss students who resisted the vaccine mandate. In August, the University of Virginia (UVA) kicked out 238 students, mostly undergraduates, for not complying with COVID-19 vaccination policy.

“These students received multiple communications from Student Affairs via email, text, and phone calls reminding them to update their status by deadline,” a UVA spokesperson told student newspaper The Cavalier Daily.