Northeastern University Suspends Students For Not Social Distancing, Won’t Refund $36,500 Tuition
The Federalist | 09/07/2020 | Jordan Davidson
Eleven students were suspended from Northeastern University for the rest of the fall semester after staff members found them congregated in a temporary dorm room at the Westin Hotel in Boston. According to the Boston Globe, the students’ $36,500 tuition and housing charges will not be refunded due to the policies of a “first-year international experience” program called N.U.in.
Northeastern has dismissed 11 first-year students after they gathered together in violation of university and public health protocols that prohibit crowded gatherings. https://t.co/4bSTi9AejF
— Northeastern U. (@Northeastern) September 4, 2020
The N.U.in students and their parents were informed of the suspension on Friday and asked to “be tested for COVID-19, enter quarantine if they test positive, and then leave” within 24 hours.
According to the university, the students violated a policy banning “guests, visitors, or additional occupants… including neighbors within your residential building” inside each other’s rooms.
“The students were required to acknowledge that they had reviewed the program handbook, which included details of the COVID-19 requirements that are meant to keep everyone safe,” Northeastern wrote in a news release detailing the suspension.
Like some universities around the nation, Northeastern attempted to prevent transmission of COVID-19 by notifying students that if they elected to return to campus in the fall, they would be suspended if they did not actively practice “physical distancing, avoid crowds, and wear masks in the presence of other people.”
“Students who host an unsafe (no masks and without healthy distancing) gathering, social or party, either on or off-campus can expect suspension,” Madeleine Estabrook, senior vice chancellor for student affairs at Northeastern, said in a letter to the students in late August. “Students who attend an unsafe gathering, social or party, either on or off-campus, can expect suspension.”
Even though the university maintains “regular testing for everyone who lives and works on campus,” providing “wellness housing for those who test positive,” Estabrook said that “testing negative for COVID-19 is not enough” and that students should have followed the rules.
“We must practice all of the public health guidelines in order to keep ourselves and the community healthy. Together, we can keep each other safe, but it will require everyone’s consistent cooperation,” she said.
The university claims that the suspended students “will have the right to contest their dismissal at an expedited hearing.”
Now, the icing on the cake is the three comments I read at the news aggregator:
A great time saver, beats taking 4 years to throw your money away.
These budding rocket scientists allegedly signed papers, that informed them of the consequences. I’d say they’re out of luck.
Inconvenient subject called contract law.
It sounds like 11 students are going to be needing some legal representation. Isn’t this just so typical. The school may have the right to kick people out for not following their nonsense, but they certainly are not entitled to keep the money for a service not provided.
We had a similar experience when we took our Weinerdog, Anthony to Petco U. We took him there for socialization and to try and get him to become less obnoxious and be quieter around other dogs. He has never bitten anyone or any other animal but he barks constantly and tries to hump everything in sight. We gave him a stuffed dachshund named Huma but he humped the stuffing out of her after just a few nights. But Anthony got kicked out of class on his third night and they said that we would not receive our money back because it was our fault that we would could not keep him quiet and keep him from trying to humping everything in sight.
Wait . . . have we by any chance drifted off-topic?
Mmmm…. MaryAnn ………
Like this:
Like Loading...
