ALBUQUERQUE – The University of New Mexico is disenrolling 256 students from classes for not complying with university’s requirement for vaccination against COVID-19.
University spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair said the students being disenrolled took no action to comply with the requirement by Friday’s deadline, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
“Students facing disenrollment have been receiving daily messages for over a month and, prior to that, biweekly messages,” Blair said.
Under the requirement, students must show proof of vaccination or acquire an exemption for medical or religious reasons or only take remote-study classes off campus.
Exempted students on campus are required to submit weekly COVID-19 tests to the UNM vaccine verification site. For the fall semester only, students who have not been vaccinated or exempted are permitted to remain at UNM if they submit weekly COVID-19 tests results.
UNM’s online vaccination site shows 92.2% of students on the Albuquerque campus have been vaccinated and that 91.8% of students throughout the university system are vaccinated.
Blair said disenrolled students do not have to return financial aid received during the fall term, but disenrollment may affect their chances to get aid in the future.
“That’s because they will not receive credit in the fall semester, and certain forms of financial aid require that a student demonstrate good standing and regular progress toward a degree,” she said.
Disenrolled students may return to UNM in the spring semester as long a they provide proof of vaccination or request and receive a qualified exemption.
In another development, the Las Cruces school district has seen a big spike in COVID-19 cases among students and staff members after several weeks of steady increases, totaling more than 900 cases since classes began Aug. 9, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
The district had 194 new cases in the week ending Thursday, almost four times the weekly numbers through early October.
