Communicable Disease Policy
This policy defines and addresses communicable diseases, which from time to time arise in colleges among students. A communicable disease is an illness due to an infectious agent or its toxic products that arises through transmission of that agent or its products from a reservoir to a susceptible host and as further defined in the Texas Health and Safety Code, Section 81.001, et seg. Communicable diseases include, but are not limited to measles, influenza, viral hepatitis-A (infectious hepatitis), viral hepatitis-B (serum hepatitis), human immune deficiency virus (HIV infection), AIDS, AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), Avian Influenza, meningitis, meningococcal infections and tuberculosis.
This policy and other procedures developed by the College shall emphasize educating students concerning communicable diseases and managing each case individually with sensitivity, flexibility, and concern for the individual as well as for the College community. The College’s decisions concerning a person who has a communicable disease will be based upon current and well-informed medical judgment that includes the nature of the disease, risk of transmission to others, symptoms and special circumstances of the person, and balancing identifiable risks and available alternatives to respond to a student with a communicable disease. Vernon College maintains authority to initiate dismissal of a student who has a chronic communicable disease or is a carrier of a chronic communicable disease from a particular program or course of study whenever such chronic communicable disease has a direct effect on the student’s ability to perform or is deemed as a significant health risk to the campus population as a whole. At the request of the Dean of Student Services, qualified medical personnel may establish additional rules and regulations designed to implement this policy.