State Exempts Four Universities From Medical Freedom Legislation
Photo: The Hill is the colloquial name for the location of various academic buildings on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s campus. Photo Credit: TN 66 / CC
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
After passing legislation to stop forced vaccination in Tennessee, the state issued exemptions to four universities. The exemption allows them to require vaccination in order to allow them to continue to receive federal funding.
The exemptions were granted by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury after Governor Lee’s Friday signing of the bills. The new state laws prohibit state-funded institutions from requiring vaccination or forcing mask mandates, unless very specific criteria is met.
If the exemptions were not granted, the universities would be violating federal law. In September, President Joe Biden signed an executive order mandating that all contractors receiving federal money have employees vaccinated by January 4, 2022.
The four universities receiving the exemption are East Tennessee State University, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee system, and Vanderbilt University. The exemption for the University of Tennessee system will impact several college campuses across the state.
According to UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman, the exemption was necessary to continue to function as normal financially.
In the 2020 fiscal year, the UT system received almost $750 million in federal funding, making up nearly a quarter of their budget for the year.
“As a major research university, we have a large number of contracts and grants. We understand this executive order to apply to most of our campus,” Plowman stated.
While the new legislation does allow for institutions to apply for exemption, it also requires that those granted exemptions must reapply each year for renewal.
The UT system says they are still unsure if the federal vaccine mandate will apply for students. Currently they report that at least 64% of students have received at least the first round of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As the universities muddle their way through the exemption process, some headway has been made in turning away from the long list of COVID-19 regulations imposed by many. The UT Knoxville system did issue a statement on Monday, announcing that they would be removing the mask mandate on all campuses to coincide with the passing of the new legislation.
President Randy Boyd stated, “On Friday evening, Governor Bill Lee signed SB9014/HB9077, which precludes state entities from having mask or vaccine mandates unless exempted from the law by the State Comptroller when federal funding is at risk. Accordingly, we are lifting mask requirements across the UT System effectively immediately.”
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State Representative Jason Zachary of Knoxville praised the move, sharing the announcement on social media.
“Great news from President Boyd! The mask mandate across the UT system has been lifted. Appreciate the communication with the UT team throughout the day…” he stated.
As of Tuesday, the comptroller’s office had granted 14 other exemptions beyond those universities, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s UT Battelle.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
So does this apply to VUMC also?
This is a pure hypocritical move. Why don’t the universities just sue the federal government for abusing their constitutional rights instead of just surrendering to them. Forcing any American to be vaccinated in order to earn a living is unconstitutional . I would encourage any university employee who wishes not to be vaccinated to hire a lawyer and sue them and or just claim religious exemption or if you’ve been infected then just claim antibodies natural immunity is better than a fake vaccine
yes, it does
Agreed. It’s a mandate, NOT a law. Ridiculous
Colleges do not need Federal Funding. This what is wrong with this country. They Federal Government is to involved in our lives. Lee should have never gave that exemption. These colleges make a fortune off the peoples money. Lee needs to go. The Federal government has taken over education, health care, trucking, and now food supply. Communist nation here we come.
Agreed. We need LESS government, not more. Look at what’s happening in Austria and Australia, it’s atrocious! Pulling children from the arms of parents and forcibly giving them the jab!! People should be in jail for that.
The reason the Nuremberg Code was created and signed, to protect people from their government doing just this kind of thing!
We have medicines which work to treat the virus. They must be utilized and these mandates must stop, or we can kiss our freedom goodbye.