‘Separate but Equal’ Vaccine Status at McGeorge School of Law
‘Students who neither have submitted their evidence of vaccination nor their declination form will not be allowed to attend classes/continue their education at McGeorge’
By Katy Grimes, August 10, 2021 4:29 pm
In order to return to in-class instruction this coming fall, Sacramento’s McGeorge School of Law is not only requiring mandatory masks, proof of vaccination is required, students and employees must complete mandatory training, and all students must complete the “COVID-19 Awareness and Prevention for Students” quiz.
The Globe has a confidential source at McGeorge, who for many months, has been sharing the ongoing saga of new COVID-related requirements.
Last May, the student told the Globe McGeorge School of Law informed students that they would not be able to return to campus unless they are fully vaccinated. “Mind you, they are raising my tuition too,” the student said.
“More concerning, if we take an exemption, they want you to agree to be held to a different standard,” the student added. “Now, how they will enforce that – no clue – but it will get really weird if they do. Will they tell our professors about our vaccine status? Other students? That will guarantee a lawsuit.”
Tuition at McGeorge is $60,000 a year. An attorney friend explained the predicament: “Students who have already paid tuition for a year or two years of a three-year course of study at a law school such as McGeorge have the sunk-cost problem. They must weigh whether they want/can walk away from that investment to defend their own principles and beliefs re: the vaccination. It is not easy to transfer to another law school. Such students risk losing their money and their education and their potential careers. That is a big hammer that higher education administrators can hold over their heads.”
The student shared the COVID vaccine exemption form (below), as well as the exemption form for other vaccines to show how different they are. “First, the regular certificate of medical exemption for all other vaccines doesn’t require you to request the exemption,” the student said. “The COVID19 vaccine asks you to put in a request – which they can deny. The Request for Exemption is SOOO flawed. First, just read the ‘Information about COVID-19’ – they completely misrepresent why the vaccines received their Emergency Use Authorization. The school claims the vaccine substantially reduces the spread aka transmission. Bold claim. THEN they want me to consent to let the school obtain my medical records and consult with my doctor about my condition! THIS IS NOT EVEN FDA-APPROVED. My dean said it will eventually be approved so they can mandate it. I am still shocked. I at least got her to agree long-term consequences are still unknown – and that was almost difficult. I live in a clown world.”
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.”
In July, Dean Alicia Morrell of McGeorge sent out an email to all students explaining the new policy:
Vaccinations, Masks, and Social Distancing. The University of the Pacific, our parent university, has announced that all students, faculty, staff, and administrators must be vaccinated and submit evidence that they are vaccinated– unless they submit the University declination form seeking an exemption based on medical need or religious belief. The deadline for submitting your evidence of vaccination or declination form is August 1. The University also has announced that, in accordance with the recommendations of the Sacramento County Health Authority, all of us must wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Finally, people who are not vaccinated must also observe social distancing protocols.
Enforcement. The law school will be enforcing the requirements outlined above. Students who neither have submitted their evidence of vaccination nor their declination form will not be allowed to attend classes/continue their education at McGeorge. Faculty and staff who fail to do so will be subject to progressive discipline.
We recognize that these systems are imperfect and regimented. It is our hope that taking precautions at the start of the semester will keep our community safe and that we will see a loosening of masking restrictions as more people in the larger Sacramento community are vaccinated.
Signed: Alicia Montana Morrell (she/her), Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
The enforcement aspect of this policy is concerning:
Faculty and staff will be informed as to which students have not been vaccinated and will monitoring student violations of the mask and social distancing requirements; they will report non-compliance to the University “Dean of Students.” The University Dean of Students, Rhonda Bryant, will then immediately notify the law school’s dean of students, Alicia Morrell, who will handle the violation as a disciplinary matter. In addition, students who fail to comply with the requirements will be subject to being asked to leave class and will be marked as absent.
Remember, McGeorge is a Law School – not a medical school.
Flash forward to right now in August 2021, the McGeorge student said the law school is now promoting colored wrist bands in order to identify the unvaccinated, vaccinated, and vaccine exempted (see photo above).
“All I could think with these bracelets was – wow – this is Plessy v. Ferguson all over. Separate but equal,” the student said.
In the 1896 case of Plessy v Ferguson, the Supreme Court concluded that a Louisiana law requiring whites and blacks to ride in separate railroad cars did not violate the Equal Protection Clause, thus creating a “Separate but equal” doctrine.
After making an inquiry about the wrist bands, the student said the color coding is at this point apparently for people’s comfort levels. The idea is the student picks the color based on what level of interaction they are comfortable with. “They don’t seem to be ensuring those with exemptions get the red bracelet,” the student said. “We have not started the semester yet so I’m not sure if this is here to stay or because they are doing orientation.”
Wearing a green wrist band at McGeorge School of Law signifies the student or employee is vaccinated, and therefore is free to do “hi-fives and handshakes.” Yellow is warning “elbows only.” A red wrist band likely signifies a student or employee who is unvaccinated or exempt, but can have “no contact” with anyone, and must remain “8-feet apart, No Exceptions,” or just wants no contact with anyone.
McGeorge is a Law School. Law schools teach state and federal law to students. What is McGeorge Law School teaching its students with this policy?
The UOP/McGeorge website makes clear what the law school/UOP wants – “Compliance:”
McGeorge Law School claims on its “COVID-19 Awareness and Prevention for Students” quiz page, “The risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 far outweighs any benefits of natural immunity.”
McGeorge is a law school.
They also state:
- “People who have already gotten sick with COVID-19 may still benefit from getting vaccinated.”
- COVID-19 vaccines cannot give you COVID-19.
- COVID-19 vaccines will not cause you to test positive on COVID-19 viraltests*
The McGeorge law student concluded:
“It has really made me believe that college students are in a unique position because we are at the mercy of the university system. So now, they say yeah – we can mandate adults to take whatever the CDC and the State demand. These ‘unprecedented times’ or a ‘worldwide pandemic’ are being used as a Trojan horse for ushering in tyrannical government control.”
COVID-19 Information for Students _ University of the PacificImmunization Requirement _ University of the Pacific
Request for Vaccine Exemption
Well I can guess what kind of constitutional law they are teaching over at McGeorge.
a Law school ignoring Numberg Code….the irony.
America FREEDOM IS LOST….its looks more like 1930s Germany or 1950s Cuba transformation to Communism/dictatorship
No different then black & white drinking fountains!
Sounds fantastic. Is enrollment still open?
This is very disturbing.
“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.” https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/hipaa.html
HIPAA was designed to protect the privacy of those with pre-existing conditions so their healthcare coverage could be transferred to other insurance providers if they or their covered spouse changed jobs. This was an issue for cancer patients among other chronic diseases, especially AIDs.
Stigmatizing anyone who chooses not to be injected with an experimental vaccine (for a virus that responds to low cost, safe and effective treatments) without informed consent seems a violation of civil and human rights.
I hate to change the subject from McGeorge, but down here in L.A. County, the Board of Supervisors alongside Barbara Ferrer, are moving in for the kill to require vaccine passports for entry to all indoor spaces. Here is a report from KTLA:
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-county-supervisors-to-consider-requiring-vaccine-proof-at-certain-indoor-spaces/
And there’s more….. see my second post below.
Sen Richard Pan’s proposal will criminalize citizen protests such as anti-vaccine protests on the street. Looks to me as though he is working in concert with counties who are pushing vaccine passports. Here is the report in this development:
https://www.pasadenanow.com/weekendr/a-california-bill-would-limit-protests-at-vaccination-sites-does-it-violate-the-first-amendment/
Heads up, everyone! If L.A. County falls to vaccine passports, the rest of the counties and the state will fall like dominoes in their attempts to get everyone vaccinated —- but really it is about these power-mad dictators attempting to control EVERY aspect of Californians behavior. This is an important story — I hope we will be seeing more coverage of it. Also please spread the word if you can. It’s coming to you!
And they’re leveraging the private corporations to apply their mandates under the auspices of “employee safety”…
My employer is requiring “fully vaccinated” in order to return back to the office…fortunately they kicked back the return date two months, so that’s more time to have the early jabbers experience their adverse health reactions, and bolster the case that the UNVACCINATED are more at risk than the vaccinated from the spread of this bioweapon from the PLA/CCP….
No clot-shot for me, thank you….
Also if the recall succeeds that will work in your favor, I think, I hope. Thus it’s good you have some two-month breathing room, CD9.
What I find hard to believe is the University (and other entities)are developing their COVID vaccine information brochures about how safe it is when it has not been fully approved by the FDA. The manufacturers have not completed all of their trials and the FDA has not received or reviewed all the data to determine ANYTHING about this vaccine except the EUA. And how is it ethical to conveniently leave out adverse reactions, risks, death rates? I sure hope these young students are truly given all the information needed to make an informed decision. It seems they are trying to bully students into the vaccine by telling them which activities they can participate in according to their vaccination status. And since when did social distancing go from 6 to 8 feet? Insanity.
I know. You’re right, Stacy. Insanity.
So piss off a bunch of future lawyers? I am sure many of these students have lawyer parents and grand parents. I say bury the school in a tsunami of law suits.
No kidding! What a great point, CW.
McGeorge law student chiming in here. Your undercover McGeorge source is blowing the entire situation out of the water. For Pete’s sake, he/she sounds like an entitled toddler in the throes of the Terrible Twos. The wristlets – which are not required – are for comfort, to help us all re-adjust to an open campus after over a year of virtual classes. And the Religious exemption offered is incredibly generous.
I’m a McGeorge student. This student is clearly looking to get their fifteen minutes of fame by anonymously reporting. If they feel so strongly about their stance, why not name themselves?
How dare this student purport to represent, uphold and defend the law and then so blatantly misapply the law. For anyone who actually knows Plessy, and the law for good measure, race is a protected class for the strict scrutiny classifications of equal protection. Vaccination status IS NOT. If they are unhappy about the mask and vaccine mandate, then they are free to find a new school. For the record, it is Sacramento’s mandate, not McGeorge. McGeorge simply follows what Sacramento County mandates.
I will also say – as of August 23, 2021, the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has been FDA-approved. So to your student source, now the vaccine is approved, so what’s their holdup?
Another point? The wrist bands are OPTIONAL. You do not have to wear one if you don’t want to. It is not enforced, and you will not be sanctioned if you don’t wear one.
To the journalist who wrote this — please do better background checks. Don’t just take the word of your informant alone. Please go on campus, do research, and experience it for yourself. Otherwise your story is very one-sided and frankly, poor journalism.