SAINT PAUL, Minn. - The University of St. Thomas on-campus living is adapting new ways to accommodate students during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Last March the University of St. Thomas sent most of UST’s residential students back home due to the dangers of COVID-19. Classes were modified to be online and campus was left to the very few who couldn’t travel home because of travel restrictions and out of fear of contracting or transmitting the virus to the people around them.
International student Hamad Al-Hamad, a junior at UST, says that he had to stay on campus when the university gave the option to students to leave when COVID-19 spikes hit the U.S.
“I had nowhere to go.” Al-Hamad said. “I couldn’t go back home to Kuwait due to travel restrictions and I couldn’t stay with family because they were all at risk.”
Al-Hamad lived in an apartment located on St. Thomas’ mid-campus by himself after his roommates left home to self-isolate with their families.
“Campus was isolated. Everything was closed… ASC was the only place that was open so that we could eat meals.” Al-Hamad said.
St. Thomas senior, Tanner Hanson, was one of Al-Hamad’s roommates that left home in March.
“Before I left, both Hamad and I came down with really bad flu-like symptoms.” Hanson said. “I decided to leave right after I got better so that I wouldn’t catch anything else.”
“I’m not surprised a lot of students are going home or staying home all together.” Al-Hamad said.
The 2020 fall semester started out with just over 2,100 students living on campus, according to Bryan Helminiak, the associate director of Residence Life. Helminiak estimates that just over 2,000 students are expected to stay for the 2021 spring semester.
“For anyone who has decided to live off campus, they are allowed to do an appeal with the choice of COVID-19 being their option to leave. This will waive a $500 cancelation fee towards the student’s account.” Helminiak said.
This semester Residence Life has implemented three different protocols for students living in dorms. At the beginning of the year, students were not allowed to have guests or visit students in other dorms.
In October, TommieMedia reported that Residence Life was allowing on campus students to visit students in other dorms due to low numbers and no evidence showing that COVID-19 cases were transmitting within dorms on campus.
At the beginning of November, COVID-19 cases at St. Thomas increased to 80 cases according to the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard. This changed Residence Life’s protocols to limit visits to students who lived in the same building and on the same floor.
“I think we’ve been pretty flexible with the number of cases we have in the current climate of the pandemic, but we have to do what is best for the health of our students and faculty.” Helminiak said. “We also understand that student’s mental health with these restrictions are being pushed and we respect and acknowledge that it is a real issue for students. That is why the university lets us give students who say ‘living on campus alone isn’t for me’ or ‘I thought it would be different’ the option to stay or leave in our dorms.”
Residence Life’s protocols are guided by the University Action Response Team.
“U-ART has been driving all the guidance to what campus should be doing on campus from information given to them by the Governor’s office, the Minnesota Department of Health, plus whatever we are seeing on our campus.” Helminiak said.
Looking forward, Residence Life will offer housing to students over J-term even though many classes are going to be offered online.
“While we don’t have an estimate of what numbers for J-term will look like, but with everything being virtual, we will see a lot of students decide to stay home through the holidays until spring.” Helminiak said. “It’s going to look a lot like the beginning of the pandemic did in March.”
The university plans to be open for in person classes at the beginning of the spring semester and Helminiak is optimistic on what COVID-19 cases could look like come February.
“The good news across the board is that things will start getting better by the time students start coming back in February.” Helminiak said.
“I hope things get better soon so that students like myself can be with family and friends.” Al-Hamad said. “I really miss the traditional and normal feel to what college has to offer.”
This report was submitted at my final report for Journalism 251 lead by Greg Vandegrift.
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