UI will still require full-time first year students to live in organized on-campus living for the upcoming academic year, according to the Dean of Student’s Office.
COVID-19 has spun the world upside-down and turned society on its head, John Kosh, marketing director of auxiliary services at the University of Idaho, said. But the university and residence life maintain their excitement for students to come back on campus.
“Our overarching goal is to reopen and bring students back into a safe environment, and so our residence halls will be open,” Kosh said.
Residence life must follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and city guidelines. The organization has changed the layout of some residence halls to abide by these guidelines.
Kosh said Theophilus Tower raised specific social distancing concerns for the next academic year. Each floor of the tower shares a communal bathroom and can accommodate more residents than can safely fit CDC guidelines.
Reducing occupancy complies more with the CDC, so the tower will now offer single rooms, Kosh said. This cuts occupancy from 400 residents to 200 residents.
Students have been given the choice to stay in the tower in a single room or move into other living facilities with shared rooms.
The tower is the most affordable housing option, so the university didn’t want to raise its rates, Kosh said. Tuition will not increase this semester, due to a state-wide tuition freeze on colleges and universities implemented by the Idaho State Board of Education in late 2019, but UI still wanted to have a housing option affordable for incoming students.
The Wallace Residence Center will not have changes to its floor plan. Roommates will be considered a family unit in terms of social distancing protocol, Kosh said. Though residents may not be blood related, they will be staying the night with a person. Each suite shares a bathroom instead of each floor sharing a communal space like Theophilus Tower. The Wallace Residence Center plan abides by CDC protocol, according to Kosh.
The same policies Wallace Residence Center will be abiding by will also be applied to other campus living options, including the Living Learning Communities.
Students in all residence halls must follow social distancing and face covering guidelines when outside their individual rooms. This connects to campus-wide policies which limit lounge spaces and group gatherings.
Most students who attended UIdaho Bound, the annual event welcoming first-year students to campus, decided to sign up for single room options, Kosh said. Those who did not were integrated into wings in the Wallace Residence Center.
Meanwhile, residence life student staff are returning to begin training.
New hires are receiving CDC guideline training along with normal Housing and Residence Life training, Kosh said. HRL training includes information on handling violations and keeping an eye on mental health.
Events and traditions in the residence halls are important to the ‘college experience,’ Kosh said, and staff are working on how to stay involved with their residents.
“You don’t have to physically have the virus to be impacted by society being turned up on its head, and we and every staff member recognize that,” Kosh said.
Emily Pearce can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce