More Athletes Join Lawsuit Against WMU's Vaccine Mandate

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The lawsuit against Western Michigan University is growing, as 11 new plaintiffs have joined the case against the athletic department’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.

The Detroit News reported last month that Emily Dahl, Hannah Redoute, Bailey Korhorn and Morgan Otteson filed suit against Western University Michigan, university President Edward Montgomery and its athletic director, Kathy Beauregard. The women’s soccer players said the university's requirement that student-athletes get vaccinated in order to remain on the active roster "seeks to override" their "sincerely held religious beliefs and viewpoint and discriminates against them on the basis of their religion."

According to MLive.com, the lawsuit’s 11 new plaintiffs are football player Jake Moertl; baseball player Max Huntley; women’s basketball players Kia Brooks, Reilly Jacobson and Taylor Williams; cross country runners Annalise James, Nicole Morehouse and Katelyn Spooner; and dance team members Aubree Ensign, Kaelyn Parker and Danielle Natte. The lawsuit, which was filed by the Great Lakes Justice Center, says the university’s student-athlete vaccination policy violates the student-athletes’ First Amendment rights, their right to due process and their 14th Amendment rights to privacy, self-autonomy and personal identity.

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