With spring semester coming to an end, universities and colleges have put protocols in place to ensure the safety of students who are returning to campus housing to pack up their belongings after the COVID-19 outbreak forced early closures.
At the College of Charleston (COFC) and West Virginia University (WVU), for example, students will only be allowed into dorms in small numbers at a time so they can socially distance.
COFC scheduled move out for three Saturdays in May.
“In terms of precautions, we are always concerned about the health and safety of students and families so we put guidance in place for our remaining move out days,” said Melantha Ardrey, director of residence life at COFC, which is based in South Carolina.
Time slots on May 9 were reserved for South Carolina residents, and out of state students were allowed to book appointments for May 16 and May 23.
Similarly, WVU students were given the choice of a two-hour time slot between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m over a three-week period from May 18 to June 6. Roommates and suitemates aren’t allowed to choose the same time slot to ensure there won’t be too many people in one area at the same time. At WVU, as many as 4,500 students are set to move out of on-campus housing.
“We’ve coordinated when to minimize the traffic coming into town, so we don’t sort of crowd and have to worry about significant social distancing issues because of so many people being in town,” said G. Corey Farris, dean of students at WVU.
