A group of six US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) students are taking the university to court over its Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
The lawsuit, filed in the US federal court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges the requirement to get vaccinated or face disenrollment violates the US Constitution's due process clause.
"The right to pursue a profession — particularly one as important to the public good and as revered in civil society as serving in the military — is a liberty interest for which one enjoys substantive due process protection," the lawsuit, filed on 19 November, read.
"While it may be a hardship for defendants to require other safety procedures like
masks or weekly [Food and Drug Administration]-approved Covid-19 tests, the benefit to the public is great, and such hardship is far outweighed by that suffered by [the students] who stand to lose their occupations."
The lawsuit says that on 20 October, the academy — a defendant in the lawsuit along with Superintendent Jack Buono, the US Department of Transportation and its Maritime Administration — ruled all students must be vaccinated by 28 December.
The date is identical to the US Navy's vaccination deadline for its reservists, which students become upon enrolling at the academy.
The lawsuit said third- and fourth-year students have been threatened with being responsible for paying the academy back tuition, which is typically free costs taxpayers up to $260,000.
The students said the specificity of their education prevents them from transferring credits out of the USMMA and that credits earned at sea would not be able accepted at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy or the Texas A&M Maritime Academy, two state-run maritime academies without vaccine mandates.
The students, John Guttlein, Joshua Gardner, Alena Dunaway, Clarissa Reckline, William Tetrev and Brent LeBlanc, are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit.
They seek damages and injunctive relief.
The Department of Transportation, which is responsible for administering the academy, declined to comment.
The other four federal service academies, the Naval Academy, the Military Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Coast Guard Academy, all require vaccination for their cadets.
