Unvaccinated, expelled: Ousted Western University student speaks out

By Calvi Leon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press

November 23, 2021

A Western University student says he’s been expelled from campus after being removed from class three separate times for refusing to comply with the school’s COVID-19 vaccination rules.

“They suspended me,” Harry Wade, a London resident studying civil engineering at Western, said in an interview Friday.

“At this point, I’ve made my statement and I don’t think I would ever trust another academic institution to protect my rights until someone acknowledges the wrongdoing that’s been done.”

Two of Wade’s arrests were captured via videos widely circulated online – one showing him being removed in handcuffs by campus police, the other displaying officers carrying him out of class by his hands and legs.

The 22-year-old, who is unvaccinated, said he was advised not to trespass on school grounds – his first warning on Oct. 13 – multiple times before being arrested three times between Nov. 11 and this past Monday, Nov. 15. The arrests came just days after he stopped wearing a mask to class, he said.

Western University officials would not comment on the details of the situation or the student in the videos but did say the university has policies for students who do not comply with its vaccine requirements.

“While we can’t speak to individual cases due to privacy legislation, we can say that individuals who violate Western’s vaccination policy may be removed from campus, and may face other discipline,” a spokesperson, Crystal Mackay, said in a statement Friday.

“The university takes an incremental approach to responding to individuals who are non-compliant.”

Western, which has a vaccination rate of 99 per cent, was among the first post-secondary schools in Ontario to require full COVID vaccinations for anyone, student or staff, to access campus. Mackay said students who are “non-compliant” with the policy were given several chances to show proof of vaccination.

Medical experts overwhelmingly agree that the available vaccines are safe and effective at slowing the spread of COVID-19 and lessening the health risks for fully vaccinated people who do contract the virus.

Wade, who moved to London from the United Kingdom more than 10 years ago, said he didn’t respond to any of the notices from the university leading up to his expulsion.

“I received all the correspondence from the university, and they gave me plenty of time to answer to the allegations, but people are already fighting that battle for me,” he said.

The Free Press also reached out to Western officials last week, following the circulation of one video showing a student being removed from class, but they would not comment on specific details.

Among Western’s 37,000 students, 28 have been placed on “involuntary leave” for not complying with the policy, the university said.

Students placed on leave are no longer registered for their classes and are prohibited from signing up for courses, accessing grades or applying to graduate. Tuition is refunded and they are advised not to trespass on campus property.

Since the first video of his arrest was shared via social media on Nov. 11, Wade said he’s received hundreds of messages from people who support his position against vaccination policies.

“I’ve received lots of endorsements, legal advice, financial aid,” he said. “At this point, I’m choosing not to accept it because I didn’t want this to be an issue about me.”

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Wade said he hopes to find a new school and job eventually, whether in London or elsewhere. Vaccine mandates have become a huge barrier for him not only at school but at work, he said, adding he was forced to leave a London hospital where he worked over the summer, screening staff for COVID-19 symptoms.