Huntsville, Ala. – Today, (July 29, 2021), API-affiliate Rightside Radio and host Phil Williams broke a story that Birmingham-Southern College plans to implement restrictions and penalties against unvaccinated students in the upcoming semester.
According to Birmingham-Southern’s Fall 2021 Updates (available here), students who are “unvaccinated” will be subject to weekly Covid-testing, a $500 health fee, mandatory masking, different rules for quarantining, and even a different move-in day from vaccinated students.
Senate Bill 267, which was passed into law in the 2021 Regular Session, is now active and prohibits vaccine passports and educational entities, including private institutions, from requiring vaccination for admission. The addition of the penalties, which have been freely admitted to by Birmingham-Southern, appear at first review to violate the spirit if not the letter of the new law.
“In effect it appears Birmingham-Southern has set up a caste system and relegated unvaccinated students to the bottom tier,” Rightside Radio host Phil Williams said. “The only way the caste system works is if they force students to provide BSC with otherwise confidential information. Regardless, this is not acceptable in Alabama and Birmingham-Southern would do well to treat each student with the equal dignity they deserve.”
Birmingham-Southern was asked for an input of comment but declined to do so.