Joshua Ceballos & Tamica Jean-Charles/PantherNOW Staff
While many students are packing their bags and heading home in the midst of in-person classes being cancelled due to Coronavirus, some housing students are staying behind. The University is planning to keep facilities open and functional for these students for the foreseeable future.
Andrew Naylor, senior director of Housing and Residential Life, told PantherNOW that as of today, 968 students have registered to stay living on campus at the Modesto Maidique Campus, and 183 at the Biscayne Bay Campus. Those that left were asked to turn in their keys.
“We’re asking for keys so we can keep track of who is leaving, so we know who to follow up with if they haven’t registered to stay,” Naylor said.
Naylor said Housing is providing data to the Graham Center, Recreation centers and dining halls so they know how many students they can expect to serve for the next two weeks.
Restaurants staying open at MMC include 8th Street Campus Kitchen, Sushi Maki and Starbucks. At BBC, Roary’s Bay Cafe and Starbucks will also be open. All restaurants are subject to modified hours, shown below.
Residential Assistants have been allowed to go home during this soft-shutdown, though many have chosen to stay and work, according to Naylor. All staff in housing are still allowed to work, and those in the tutoring center have been moved to other positions for the time being.
There has been no talk of refunding students’ housing payments because the residence halls are still open, Naylor said.
The Graham Center and Wellness and Recreation Center at MMC will operate under normal hours while the University stays open, according to Sanyo Mathew, senior director for both buildings.
“Everything is status quo as of now,” he said. “I’m confident facilities can stay open as scheduled.”
The Wolfe Center at BBC will also be operating under normal hours “for now,” according to Building Support Specialist Rito Altheme.
Student workers employed by GC and WRC will continue to work while classes move online, and Mathew said they can work for as long as they’re comfortable.
“If a student doesn’t feel comfortable coming to work right now, we absolutely respect that and they can come back to their jobs later on,” Mathew said.
Several events that were to be held in GC have been postponed due to virus concerns, so employees who work on setting up those events can no longer do their job. Mathew said that five out of eight of those employees have said they want to continue working, so he has found them other jobs to do in the building. In particular: cleaning.
“We’re being very diligent in cleaning, and we’ve quadrupled our cleaning schedule,” Mathew said, adding that the displaced employees will join the cleaning staff who will be cleaning GC hourly.
At the WRC, the gym will operate as normal except for group exercise classes which have been postponed or cancelled as a precaution.
However, if demand for the gym goes down as students aren’t coming to campus, WRC hours may be reduced.
“I’ll be looking at card swipe data for the next few days and seeing demand. If being open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. makes more sense than 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., we’re flexible,” he said.
Exercise class instructors can also join cleaning staff if they need extra hours, and Mathew says they will work extra hard to disinfect workout machines as often as possible.
Daemon Kerr does not plan on leaving campus anytime soon. Although many of his Parkview neighbors have already evacuated, or in the midst of, Kerr said he will stay on campus during the remote-learning period.
“I live in Charleston, S.C., so it’s kind of hard just to up and drive nine hours,” said Kerr, who’s studying health and human concerns.
The junior said nothing much is changing with him and his residential life coworkers, many of whom are also staying on campus.
Students who live off-campus are debating similar options. Taylor Rogers, a senior studying international business marketing, said she will stay in her apartment in 109 Towers. Like Kerr, she is an out of state student, and said going home would be too costly.
“I’m confident in what I can do to avoid COVID-19,” said Rogers. “However, I’m most concerned about my grandparents.”
Rogers grandparents currently run a beauty supply store in Shreveport, La. The couple have already taken heavy precautions after news of a presumptive positive COVID-19 result surfaced just last night.
“[My grandmother] already limited her store hours and is trying to do more e-commerce,” said Rogers.
About Post Author
