Dear HRE students,
As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread in our community and around the nation and world, we know that physical distancing is the most important step we can take to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our campus community. After extensive deliberations and conversation with leaders in UHealth and Housing & Residential Education (HRE), we have determined our on-campus housing is unable to support effective physical distancing based on the number of students still living on campus. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to limit on-campus housing to a small number of students for the remainder of spring semester, with only students who cannot return to a permanent home address continuing to live on campus.
Housing will be limited to international students, students experiencing homelessness, foster youth, and students with known health or safety risks. Students who believe they meet these criteria must complete a form to request to remain on campus. More information about the process to request continuing in on-campus housing is available online. All other students are asked to move out of their campus residences as soon as possible, but no later than Friday, March 27, at 9 p.m. Those residents who move out will receive a prorated refund for the remainder of the spring semester.
We recognize the anxiety and stress that accompanies this accelerated move-out timeline; it is a decision we do not take lightly. Your safety and the well-being of the entire campus community are our top priorities. We simply cannot overstate the importance of changing our social behavior, particularly implementing physical distancing, to protect everyone’s health at this time.
We appreciate the work of HRE staff in providing timely updates and working to create an environment that is supportive of student needs and health. Additional information and answers to questions will be sent directly from HRE. Thank you for your understanding, your patience, and your support of others as we together navigate a very challenging and difficult time.
Sincerely,
Ruth V. Watkins
President
Michael L. Good
Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
Daniel A. Reed
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Lori K. McDonald
Vice President for Student Affairs