Fall 2020 Housing Update with Residence Life
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Chatham’s plans to return to campus in the Fall of 2020, a number of faculty and staff working groups have been set up to create plans for safe operation. Dean of Students Dr. Heather Black, led the planning group efforts in the areas of Student & Employee Health and Housing & Dining. You can catch Part I of Heather’s interview discussing student health protocols and adaptations here. For an in-depth look at residence life in Fall 2020, read on for a discussion on updated housing protocols with Heather Black and Director of Residence Life, Shawn McQuillan.
Director of Residence Life, Shawn McQuillan
What will the move-in process look like this year?
Shawn McQuillan: To promote physical distancing, new and transfer students were assigned a move-in date and time slot, and returning students were sent a link to sign up [for a move-in time]. Students should plan to arrive during their designated date and time and will have that one hour to unload their vehicle. To streamline the move-in process, students are only permitted to have one vehicle on-campus for unloading and no more than 2 guests to help them move and get settled. Upon arrival, students should place the parking pass they were emailed on their dashboard and then check-in with the Residence Life staff at our visible check-in station located outside of the building. Once checked-in, students will unload their vehicle and move items into their room with the help of the guests they bring. Throughout the move-in process, students and guests are expected to wear masks and maintain 6 feet of distance from others as much as possible. Once your vehicle is unloaded, it should be moved to the nearest available parking lot. Guests are permitted to remain on-campus for 2 hours after unloading to help a student get settled and unpack. We are asking students to receive their daily health screening at either the Chapel, Eddy Theatre, or the Athletic Fitness Center once they have completed move in.
Dean of Students, Heather Black
What steps are being taken to ensure that the residence halls are safe and sanitary for the students who are living in them?
Heather Black: We have de-densified any of the spaces that are using shared community bathrooms. Facilities has increased their cleaning and disinfecting protocols in shared spaces, specifically the bathrooms. We also are providing directions to students on how to keep the community safe, like wearing their masks in the community spaces and all the mitigation strategies that you probably know by heart now. We've placed occupancy limits in common spaces like the bathrooms, community kitchens, and common places. We're providing students with a list of cleaning supplies that we recommend and facilities is installing sanitation stations on the floors. We have also suspended guest privileges so that students are only allowed to have guests that actually live in their building.
Why can’t students visit their friends in other residence halls?
HB: The reason we're doing this is to slow the traffic within the different residence halls. This will allow us to better contain and trace the spread of COVID-19 if we were to have a case. If we're doing a good job following all the other mitigation strategies, Residence Life will review this policy and maybe allow people to visit each other within the residence halls, but it's critical that we start this way.
Will students still be able to cook in the communal kitchens?
SM: The communal kitchens are currently scheduled to be open for student use. We have set a 1-person occupancy limit for each kitchen. While in the kitchen students will be required to wear a mask and follow all posted signage. We will also have disinfectant in each kitchen and students will be asked to wipe down counters and surfaces before and after use.
What should a student do if their roommate TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19?
HB: They should make sure that their roommate immediately calls Health Services to get instructions, then they themselves should call Health Services or the Residence Life on-call number. They should stay in their room until we provide further direction. In that specific situation, we're going to move the sick roommate right away. And then we're probably going to move the non-sick roommate temporarily while we disinfect their location. It depends on their living arrangement, but they'll most likely be considered a close contact so then they'll begin their 14-day isolation protocol.
Can you explain the difference between modified self-isolation and the exposure or symptom-based isolation?
HB: The modified self-isolation is something that's being done as a proactive measure for students as they prepare to come to campus. It’s more like shelter-in-place, where we're asking people to strongly limit their exposure to others outside of their home. You could still go to work but make sure you're following all of those strong mitigation behaviors: wear a mask, maintain physical distance, regularly wash your hands. The same thing applies if you have to run an errand or go to the grocery store. It’s about reducing your exposure to others to ensure that you are arriving to campus as safely and as healthfully as possible.
Exposure or symptom-based isolation or quarantine happens on campus. Those are done as reactive measures if a student is being tested for COVID-19 or is identified as a close contact. A close contact is anybody that spends more than 15 minutes within less than six feet of a person who tests positive. Close contacts are required to isolate for 14 days.
If a student that uses a shared community bathroom were to test positive, we would do a five-day isolation for everyone who uses that bathroom. [The student who tested positive] would do daily health screenings; we would make sure they did not become symptomatic; we'd deliver food. If anyone does become symptomatic they would be tested. Anybody who is identified as a close contact for that case would also be moved into the 14-day isolation protocol.
Are you doing added training for the RA’s and the OL’s so that they have better toolkits for handling this?
HB: Yeah. There are some training sessions with orientation leaders and the resident assistants. The RAs who will go over this in their on-call training. We will also be doing tabletop exercises with our on-call team to make sure all the staff are clear on how we would handle these situations.
What options does a student have if they do not like the on-campus housing setup this fall?
HB: They can make the choice to move off campus and there will be no penalty. Their housing deposit would be applied to whatever balance they have at Chatham. They would just need to notify Residence Life that they wish to move off campus and we would accommodate that request. The only way they would lose their housing deposit is if they decided not to come to Chatham at all.
Dilworth Hall
Will students have the ability to stay on campus in the event that the whole campus goes virtual?
HB: The current plan is that we will allow students to stay on campus. If we moved completely virtual we would re-evaluate and if we were to ask students to move home, we would always have exceptions. That includes our housing-insecure students, students who live out of state, students who have a high-risk person in their home, students who have internship requirements that require them to stay in the Pittsburgh area, and other instances we’ll assess on a case-by-case basis. Our hope is to keep the residence halls open through our move-out date and then we'll transition to virtual.
If Chatham must close the residence halls, will students receive refunds?
SM: If the decision is made to close the residence halls and apartments, the university will communicate this to all residential students. We would then offer pro-rated room and board credits/reimbursement for students who move-out as appropriate and based on available information.
How can students access the AFC?
HB: The AFC is back to normal operation hours, but you must reserve the equipment and space you need in advance. You must complete your daily health screening before using the AFC. The AFC is currently being set up as a site where you can do your health screening on campus.
Will students still be able to gather in small groups?
HB: Yeah, they can gather in outdoor spaces, the Carriage House, and the library but they still have to wear their masks and adhere to physical distancing. We will have some indoor events that will be happening in the Carriage House. We also encourage people to take advantage of the virtual options. Communication and engagement may look different this year but that doesn't mean you can't keep in touch with your friends.
How will any new policies we've enacted because of the pandemic be enforced on campus?
HB: Those are enforced under the Student Honor Code. All students are required to follow all University policies under the Honor Code or guidelines that are enacted in a time such as a pandemic. The hope is that everyone will buy in and understand that we're doing the Cougars Care initiative to promote the understanding that it takes all of us doing our part to keep our community safe and healthy. But if a student were to refuse, or to violate these policies, they'd be referred to the Honor Code.
The first step in that process would be a meeting with me. Hopefully, we'd have an educational conversation where the student would begin to understand the importance of following these protocols. They would get an educational warning that would be formally recorded. If they did it again, we would immediately begin the process of an interim suspension. My hope is that it wouldn’t reach that point; we aim for the honor code to be educational, not punitive. It's about keeping our community safe and the welfare of others. This is what we need to do to have our community function in an in-person way.
Thanks to Heather Black and Shawn McQuillan for taking the time to talk with us. Stay tuned for additional Fall 2020 interviews, coming soon. In the meantime, learn more about our plans and protocols for Fall 2020 on our website.
