Student Residents Frustrated By Housing’s Mixed Messaging

Joshua Ceballos/Investigative Editor

A few weeks ago, FIU told housing students to leave campus. Then they asked them to come back. Then leave again.

FIU Housing told students on Wednesday, March 11 to move out if they could and leave their personal belongings. A week later on March 17 they were told via email to come back and pack their stuff to fully move out by noon on Friday, March 20, within less than 72 hours.

“It was very short notice,” said senior math education major Jocelyn Velez, who had already flown up to Georgia to be with her family before the March 17 email went out.

Velez, who lived in University Apartments, left for Georgia after getting the initial email to leave, and only saw the second one to come back after she had already landed up north. “It was super last minute,” she said.

If students couldn’t retrieve their items, a staff member would be able to pack their items and store them free of charge, but all items had to be picked up by August 1, according to the email.

Several students were alarmed at the idea of letting other people handle their belongings.

“They said that if we couldn’t move our stuff, people would come and pack it up and leave it somewhere. I don’t want anyone to touch my things,” said freshman marketing major Daniela Valerio.

Valerio spent much of last week driving between her home in Pompano Beach and her dorm at Lakeview North. Because of the stress of having to move all of her things by herself while her family was working, Valerio said she missed several online assignments.

“All of last week was really hard because I was moving out and trying to find storage for my stuff… and I missed two deadlines,” she said. “From the beginning they said we could leave our stuff there, I was expecting to leave my stuff until actual moveout.”

In a follow-up email sent on March 18, FIU Housing said that they were working with students on a case by case basis to make sure their belongings were cared for until they can be retrieved.

“Belongings will remain in place until the need to pack them arises toward the end of the semester.  All stored items will have to be retrieved by August 1, 2020,” read the email.

Andrew Naylor, senior director of Housing and Residential Life, told PantherNOW that students who can’t get their things can leave them in their rooms for the foreseeable future, and they will be left alone.

But several students didn’t know this, they thought it was now or never. Students like Daniela Zamora, a sophomore economics major who moved back to Costa Rica after the initial email said to go home.

“I sent an email to housing because I was confused, but I didn’t get a response,” Zamora said. 

Zamora went home to Costa Rica and took only some essentials: some clothes, books she needed for classes, nothing too big. She thought she’d just take the rest of her things at the end of the semester. She contacted housing when she saw people posting on social media about having to go back to campus and clear out their dorms.

“It was super short notice. I wasn’t getting a response from the email I sent out, and everybody was saying you have to get your stuff,” Zamora said.

She ended up asking her boyfriend, who was still in Florida, to go and get her things from her dorm lest some stranger would come and pack them up. She said he was scared to leave his house for fear of contracting the virus, but he went anyway. 

Zamora didn’t know that she could have left her things in the dorm, and said she never saw an email saying she could.

Velez, likewise, had no idea that she could’ve left her belongings until the end of the semester. She drove all the way from her home in Georgia to pack her dorm only to drive back up the next morning. When told by PantherNOW she had the option to keep things at FIU, she was exasperated.

“Then what was the point of stressing everyone out!?” Velez said. “I was really freaking out that I had to get my crap out. That’s so annoying!”

The messaging from Housing was mixed at best. On Sunday, March 15 students were told to leave campus and only take the essentials. On Tuesday, March 17 they were asked to come back and move out completely by March 20. Then on Wednesday, March 18 Housing said they could leave their belongings in the dorms. 

Naylor said that the messages had to be changed after the first emails went out.

“When we initially wrote that letter we were dealing with a lot of variables. We thought it would be better if they came to get their things now because they may not be able to get them later,” Naylor said. “We have since adjusted the message. We’re working with students who aren’t able to get back. They can leave their stuff until the end of the semester.” 

Naylor said that many students reached out saying they could not pick up their things for various reasons, so Housing will send another message reassuring students that their belongings will be left alone until they can pick them up.

But that mixed messaging still sent students into a stressful dash to check out of their dorms this past week, putting aside any pretense of social distancing in order to grab their possessions.

“It was crazy cuz they said ‘do your best to stay away from people’ but there are only two elevators in [Lakeview North] and a bunch of families were coming in and out of them,” said Valerio. “I came into contact with at least 10 people. I don’t know where they’re coming from. It was kinda worrying.”

Valerio said she didn’t have any gloves or hand sanitizer, so every time she would go back up to her room from packing her car, she would wash her hands.

Velez said her mother brought a bottle of hand sanitizer in the car on the way down from Georgia, so she was less concerned about being near people.

Naylor said that Housing was encouraging students to maintain a healthy distance even while moving out, and that the checkouts have not been dense.

Valerio said that in her building, there was no way of staying out of close quarters.

“Every time I got in the elevator someone was there. It’s impossible to stay away from people,” she said.

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