Housing plans have drastically changed due to COVID-19. Photo by Ethan Pellegrino.
Students moved onto campus this year at the University of Rhode Island with new restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Returning and first-year students were welcomed with an entirely new set of rules and restrictions on everything from visitation to socializing in residence hall lounges, in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions.
The new policies in residential halls include the number of guests students can have in their individual rooms and prohibition of students entering residence halls that are not their own. Lounges and common spaces also have been closed if unable to achieve proper social distance.
Face masks are required at the front door of residence halls and anytime residents leave their rooms to go into a hallway or public space, according to Frankie Minor, director of housing & residential life (HRL). However, students may have different preferences when in their own suites or dorms.
“What you choose to do in your room, with your suitemates or apartment-mates, that is up to you,” Minor said. “It’s really about protecting others when you step outside that door and by and large students have been fairly compliant with that.”
The biggest change across all residence halls is overall capacity, according to Minor.
“You probably experienced a triple as a first-year student as many, many students do,” Minor said. “Well, those are long gone.”
Minor says that as this time, there are no plans to resume triples and that when the University deems it safe to assign two people to a double in the shared bathroom halls, they will move in that direction.
Hailey Emde, a sophomore living in Garrahy, was anxious to see how her housing situation was going to play out.
“Being kicked from our original housing and having to completely change initial plans made me extremely worried about my living situations on campus,” said Emde. “It wasn’t until I actually got to the campus and moved in that I was really happy to have apartment-style housing with my friends and realized how lucky I was.”
Minor also said the new housing standards put into place vary from residence hall to residence hall. Bathrooms are a main example of the different circumstances per dorm, with the average number of students sharing a bathroom less than 12 in most halls.
“We realized that each of the buildings has a unique need and service and function,” Minor said. “So you have to kind of adapt to that.”
According to Minor, HRL got Health Services’ approval in order to allow residents to share bathrooms.
Minor believes students are beginning to realize the rules have been put in place for a reason and there is responsibility to be taken seriously. Even though the congregation of groups larger than 15 are highly discouraged and not allowed, Minor emphasized that the University still wants students to safely socialize.
“We still want them to get to know each other and all those things that normally would be going on,” Minor said. “We just have to do it in a somewhat safer manner.”
Emily Moran, also a sophomore living in Garrahy this semester, notes the changes from her freshman year on campus living experience.
“I lived in Browning and I was in a triple but this year I have my own room and bathroom, along with a kitchen which allows me to feel more independent, healthy and safe due to current circumstances,” Moran said.
Although the University cannot truly know what’s going on behind closed doors, there are obvious behaviors that are going to draw attention to those who are uncooperative with the new regulations.
“That’s one of the things [the URI administration] also [is] going to realize,” Minor said. “That it’s not just asking for cooperation, but when we become aware of those situations, when students who are not compliant, we are holding them accountable for that.”
In the event of an outbreak occurring on campus, there are currently 450 spaces set aside for quarantine and self isolation for students who test positive for COVID-19.
“Once we have one person who tests positive, well, who do they interact with?” Minor said. “All of a sudden it starts growing exponentially. We want to be able to respond to that.”
The overall consensus among Minor and many University leaders is not that students are unaware of the expectations put into place on campus, but rather, they are inconsistently adhering to them.
“They can be contrary to what [students] want to do, but I just want to make sure they all understand what they need to do,” Minor said.
Nonetheless, Minor is hopeful that students will work hard to ensure their stay on campus.
“We’ve all got to do this together,” Minor said.
Returning and first-year students were welcomed with an entirely new set of rules and restrictions on everything from visitation to socializing in residence hall lounges, in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions.
The new policies in residential halls include the number of guests students can have in their individual rooms and prohibition of students entering residence halls that are not their own. Lounges and common spaces also have been closed if unable to achieve proper social distance.
Face masks are required at the front door of residence halls and anytime residents leave their rooms to go into a hallway or public space, according to Frankie Minor, director of housing & residential life (HRL). However, students may have different preferences when in their own suites or dorms.
“What you choose to do in your room, with your suitemates or apartment-mates, that is up to you,” Minor said. “It’s really about protecting others when you step outside that door and by and large students have been fairly compliant with that.”
The biggest change across all residence halls is overall capacity, according to Minor.
“You probably experienced a triple as a first-year student as many, many students do,” Minor said. “Well, those are long gone.”
Minor says that as this time, there are no plans to resume triples and that when the University deems it safe to assign two people to a double in the shared bathroom halls, they will move in that direction.
Hailey Emde, a sophomore living in Garrahy, was anxious to see how her housing situation was going to play out.
“Being kicked from our original housing and having to completely change initial plans made me extremely worried about my living situations on campus,” said Emde. “It wasn’t until I actually got to the campus and moved in that I was really happy to have apartment-style housing with my friends and realized how lucky I was.”
Minor also said the new housing standards put into place vary from residence hall to residence hall. Bathrooms are a main example of the different circumstances per dorm, with the average number of students sharing a bathroom less than 12 in most halls.
“We realized that each of the buildings has a unique need and service and function,” Minor said. “So you have to kind of adapt to that.”
According to Minor, HRL got Health Services’ approval in order to allow residents to share bathrooms.
Minor believes students are beginning to realize the rules have been put in place for a reason and there is responsibility to be taken seriously. Even though the congregation of groups larger than 15 are highly discouraged and not allowed, Minor emphasized that the University still wants students to safely socialize.
“We still want them to get to know each other and all those things that normally would be going on,” Minor said. “We just have to do it in a somewhat safer manner.”
Emily Moran, also a sophomore living in Garrahy this semester, notes the changes from her freshman year on campus living experience.
“I lived in Browning and I was in a triple but this year I have my own room and bathroom, along with a kitchen which allows me to feel more independent, healthy and safe due to current circumstances,” Moran said.
Although the University cannot truly know what’s going on behind closed doors, there are obvious behaviors that are going to draw attention to those who are uncooperative with the new regulations.
“That’s one of the things [the URI administration] also [is] going to realize,” Minor said. “That it’s not just asking for cooperation, but when we become aware of those situations, when students who are not compliant, we are holding them accountable for that.”
In the event of an outbreak occurring on campus, there are currently 450 spaces set aside for quarantine and self isolation for students who test positive for COVID-19.
“Once we have one person who tests positive, well, who do they interact with?” Minor said. “All of a sudden it starts growing exponentially. We want to be able to respond to that.”
The overall consensus among Minor and many University leaders is not that students are unaware of the expectations put into place on campus, but rather, they are inconsistently adhering to them.
“They can be contrary to what [students] want to do, but I just want to make sure they all understand what they need to do,” Minor said.
Nonetheless, Minor is hopeful that students will work hard to ensure their stay on campus.
“We’ve all got to do this together,” Minor said.