WSU on campus apartments | Photo by Daniel Delgado | The Wright State Guardian
After three different emails were sent to students about housing accommodations, students are voicing their opinion in the handling of the coronavirus.
“[If WSU asked all students to leave], I would probably be homeless,” said WSU student Jonathan Goble.
Critical decisions are being made about WSU housing due to concerns of students’ safety.
Administration response
“There are no plans to close campus housing,” said Director of Communications Seth Bauguess. ”Understanding that a complete closure could disrupt some students, the university offered an exemption process whereby someone could request to stay. As a result, approximately 200 residents remain on campus.”
As of now, the university does not have any plans to completely close housing.
They have every intent to keep it open for the students who rely on it.
As long as the state and federal governments allow it, WSU housing will stay open for students.
“We will continue to offer this option for students unless a future state or public health directive forces us to do otherwise,” said Bauguess
The university is asking that those who stay on campus practice social distancing in order to limit the spread of coronavirus and to keep those remaining on campus safe and healthy.
In an email sent out to the remaining students on campus, Environmental Health and Safety addressed the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations for Hygiene and social distancing.
According to the email, those remaining in WSU’s housing agreed to follow the CDC’s recommendations at all times.
“We appreciate those who are practicing safe social distancing and other preventive measures as it is important for the health and safety of you and all the university community,” according to the email. “Unfortunately, some student residents are not following the CDC recommendations.”
Environmental health and safety has continued to monitor campus activity. They reiterate that not following the CDC guidelines puts everyone at risk for being infected with coronavirus.
“It’s extremely important to understand that not following these guidelines puts you and others around you at risk of becoming infected with the highly contagious coronavirus,” according to the email.
The email asks students for the following
- Stay at home as much as possible
- Keep six feet between you and others
- Avoid group work settings and large meetings
- Avoid crowded public places where close contact with others may occur
- Avoid large gatherings
Students who do not follow these guidelines may lose their exemption to remain in student housing.
Timeline of events
On March 13, the university sent out an email with clear intentions of keeping housing open.
“As of now, we intend to keep on-campus student housing open,” according to the email. “Students may choose whether to continue to live on campus or move out.”
The email also mentioned wanting to be supportive of students who rely on residence life and housing resources.
Another email was sent out three days later, giving students a four day warning that campus housing would close on March 20.
The email acknowledged that some students may need to stay and asked these students to fill out a form.
Yet another email was sent out on March 24 to the remaining students on campus strongly advising them to leave.
In this email, Dan Bertsos, director of Residence, Life, and Housing, informed students that due to the actions from the state department, every request to stay on campus would need to be reviewed. He also said that there would be limited resources for students who decided to stay.
“If you want to stay on campus, you must provide a statement describing why you want to stay, including information to support your request, returned to my email address,” according to the email.
Strong student opinions
These actions outraged many students who felt that the situation was not handled well.
“Wright State is mentally torturing us,” said Carli, a WSU student trying to remain in housing. “They say we have to leave, don’t respond to anyone for days, make us sign more terms and agreements to stay, then tell us we have to leave again. This whole experience has made me, and almost everyone else I know still living on campus, not want to come back here. Wright state should have our back and they don’t.”
Other students believe that WSU made the best decision for everyone involved.
“I feel they reacted in a really quick way to the situation, in pro of not spreading the virus and in taking care of its community,” said Francisco David Acuna, an exchange student at WSU. “Wright State does prioritize students’ wellness and I love that.”
Because Acuna is a foreign exchange student, he is prohibited to move to another location.
According to Acuna, his program is working hard to see when he can come back and will soon be booking flights. He does not have plans to stay on campus for the remainder of the semester.
Goble believes that the whole issue is a lack of communication.
“I think they could have been more upfront with us that they could end up closing campus housing,” said Goble. “They could have been way better at communicating.”
Goble says that he is relying on on-campus resources because he has nowhere else to go.
“This is my permanent residence,” said Goble. “It is the address on my driver’s license, bank account, credit cards; everything. So I don’t have another home to return to. That’s why I am staying.”
For students like Goble, staying on campus is the only option.
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