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A California law student is taking his school to court and accusing them of preventing him from continuing his education at another college over his refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
Ryan Driggs, who is representing himself in the case, is attempting to transfer from Santa Clara University’s law school, where he is currently enrolled, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
Driggs accuses the school in his lawsuit of preventing him from ‘securing the economic advantages completion of his legal education would bring’ by denying him access to his transcripts.
Due to this, he alleges that he will be put places in a ‘substantially less prestigious and remunerative vocation.’
Law student Ryan Driggs says that Santa Clara University is preventing him from transferring to another school by denying him access to his transcripts
According to his LinkedIn page, the plaintiff began at Santa Clara law in 2020 and is due to graduate in 2023
According to his LinkedIn page, the plaintiff began at Santa Clara law in 2020 and is due to graduate in 2023.
In April 2021, the school announced that all students had until the beginning of the fall 2021 semester to be vaccinated against Covid-19. In December of that year, the mandate was expanded to include a booster.
On the school’s website, a disclaimer reads: ‘All students, faculty, and staff are required to be fully vaccinated and boosted as soon as they are eligible (five months after your second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or two months after Johnson & Johnson). ‘
It continues: ‘The deadline for receiving a booster vaccination and uploading your documentation is August 1, 2022.’
Driggs notes in his lawsuit that at the time of his enrollment in fall 2020, there was no requirement for a vaccine or booster. He writes in the suit that he did not ‘consent to or comply with’ the later mandate.
In one instance, Driggs said that he attempted to contact somebody who could change the school’s Covid-19 vaccine policy but got nowhere.
This is Santa Clara University’s vaccine policy stating that all students must be vaccinated and boosted in order to attend
Driggs notes in his lawsuit that at the time of his enrollment, there was no requirement for a vaccine or booster
In one instance, Driggs said that he attempted to contact somebody who could change the school’s Covid-19 vaccine policy but got nowhere
He says that Santa Clara University’s policies have cost him ‘expected pecuniary gains of a career of legal practice and the loss in relative social status.’
There are medical exemptions allowed in Santa Clara’s policy. The Mercury News report says that 28 exemption requests were made with just six being permanently granted.
Driggs did not say in his filing what his reasons were for not getting a vaccine.
On his LinkedIn page, Driggs says that he working as a summer associate at the Law Office of Timothy Reed, a prominent litigator in San Jose.
Also on his page, Driggs said that he worked in a law office in Tokyo, Japan, for a period and a teacher in China. He writes in his bio section: ‘Formerly an educator focused on history and literature. Currently a J.D. candidate at Santa Clara law anticipating graduation in 2023.’
This is the second major case of discrimination being brought against Santa Clara University this year with regard to the Covid-19 vaccine
This is the second major case of discrimination being brought against Santa Clara University this year with regard to the Covid-19 vaccine.
In March, two students, Harlow Glenn and Jackson Druker filed a lawsuit over the school’s booster mandate.
Glenn said in a speech about her lawsuit: ‘My college career is at jeopardy. I really just want to be here to study and be with my friends. For me, this is nothing to do with politics, it is simply my own medical concerns.’
While Druker said: ‘No one was willing to put their foot down, but thank god my mom is whoever she is. So, with her help, I was able to put the foot down and find many other people similar to me who are tired of it and want to take a stand,’ according to ABC San Francisco.
In October 2017, Druker made the news that he was bullied while a student at Palo Alto High School after wearing a Make America Great Again hat to class, reports Palo Alto Online.
He said that one student told him: ‘I literally want to shoot you right now if you don’t take off that hat.’ Druker, who identifies as a conservative politically, said that he wore the hat in an experiment regarding tolerance.
When pair launched their lawsuit, Glen told KTVU in an interview that the pair are not ‘anti-vaxers’ nor are they politically far-right.
She said: ‘We’re at school. We’re learning. We’re trying to pass chemistry, and be with our friends, and have fun. And make mistakes. And instead we’re having to worry about the validity and our college careers being put in jeopardy.’
Druker and Glenn’s lawsuit is backed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine propaganda group Children’s Health Defense.
At the time of writing, Children’s Health Defense has yet to comment on Driggs’ case.
