University of Arizona President Dr. Robert C. Robbins sent an email to all UA students at around 3:20 p.m. on March 13, 2020 regarding an update on the new coronavirus policies, specifically on the future of campus dormitories.
“Students should not return to campus, provided they have suitable alternative living arrangements,” Robbins said in the email.
According to Robbins, students who do not have alternative living situations besides their on-campus situation will be allowed to come back to their dorms.
Robbins said that on-campus services such as food services, campus health and the library will all still be open for students.
In an email from Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Liesl Folks to UA faculty on March 13, 2020, it was communicated that students who move out of the dorms will not move back into them this semester.
In an email from UA Housing and Residential Life today it was announced that classes will be online for the rest of the semester.
“We are communicating to [students] that they will not be moving back to the residence halls this semester,” Folks said in the email.
According to an email sent to students and family members by UA Housing and Residential Life on March 13, students will be allowed to grab their belongings from their dorms as they move out of them after March 18.
The email said that if a student cannot travel to campus to get their items, then they can either be shipped to them through United Shipping Services or stored at the dorms until the next school year.
UA Housing and Residential Life said that they will be working alongside Campus Health Services and Pima County Health Department if a case of COVID-19 is ever caught within the dorms.
“I think these new dorm policies are good for controlling the spread,” said Sierra Creek, a freshman physiology student, “but are inconvenient because I and a lot of others have made our dorms our homes so we do not want to leave.”
Creek said she was also confused about if she and other students moving out of the dorms early would be reimbursed.
