By Matt Hirsch
The CUNY Board of Trustees met on Monday, Oct. 25 to approve refunds for students that did not submit their vaccine verification and are administratively withdrawn from in-person and hybrid courses after failing to comply with vaccine mandates.
The Board of Trustees approved to fully reimburse out-of-pocket tuition payments for withdrawn students as a last-minute addition to its agenda for Monday’s meeting. Additional details for the refund will be available soon, according to CUNY’s official website.
These refunds come in the midst of controversy surrounding the vaccine mandate. Recently, a petition emerged from Queens College for CUNY to amend its withdrawal policies to accommodate a case-by-case basis. And last week the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) approved funds to seek legal counsel to potentially sue CUNY, pending the decision to refund academically withdrawn students. Though USG President Aharon Grama previously noted to The Vanguard, “there’s no reason to go to a prolonged war with the administration if it’s not needed.”
976 vaccine verifications were approved from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7 at Brooklyn College, just before the deadline, according to BC Media Relations Manager Richard Pietras. Despite CUNY policy calling for withdrawals after Oct. 8, no unverified students have been withdrawn from classes at Brooklyn College.
“To date, no students have been withdrawn from classes,” said Pietras in a statement to The Vanguard. “Brooklyn College continues to advocate for students who are in process of meeting the mandate and urges everyone to continue to submit their verification records.”