With College Dorms Closing Over Coronavirus Worries, Students Scramble To Move Out

Nicole Agu, a senior at the College of Staten Island, was about to take a remote test on Tuesday  when her roommate knocked on her door and told her an RA had stopped by. They had a day to pack their things and move out. 

“I wanted to be calm because one, there was no email sent so I thought this was spam or someone trying to play a prank,” Agu said. When she called the lobby, the receptionist confirmed they had to move out but that students were expected to be out that night. As an international student, she has nowhere else to go. 

“Everyone was in a bit of a shock and wasn’t happy that it was last minute. Literally less than 24 hours. It’s just a very overwhelming situation,” she said. 

It wasn’t until hours later that she got an email from the dorm explaining that they had until Thursday to move their things out and make way for the state to build medical emergency centers. Agu said that students were upset with the poor communication from their dorms.

CUNY is just the latest university system to push students out of their dorms on short notice due to the novel coronavirus. On March 15th, the Columbia University president asked any student who could leave to move out as soon as possible and no later than March 17th and Barnard College encouraged students to leave as soon as possible and no later than March 30 if they wanted refunds. A day earlier, New York University asked students to move out no later than the end of the week. 

Students, many of whom had already returned home to other states for spring break, scrambled to get their belongings, booked plane tickets back to the city, or begged people on social media to help move their things. Many said they were angry at their administrations for changing tones and unfair “eviction” while others were just unhappy to lose out on the last weeks of their semester. 

“It was totally crazy. It's like I haven't ever seen that many students so angry or so upset about pretty much anything before,” said Jesse Maloney, a junior who serves in student government at NYU. “It definitely went crazy on people's social media. There was a lot of desperation, and I don't think that the first initial email from the university really helped with that. It was very vague. And it caused a lot of panic.” 

Maloney said it was unclear in the original email how this policy would affect international, low-income, or immunocompromised students who can’t travel. 

“I was very angry, very frustrated,” said Jean Park, an NYU sophomore who started a petition to coax the administration into changing their minds about the closure that got over 6,000 signatures in 24 hours. “I thought it was really irresponsible and inconsiderate…especially with such short notice and especially because NYU has a lot of international students, it has a lot of students that may not have a place to live besides the dorms.”

After the petition and a student-written letter to administration, NYU followed up in another email, explaining that the dorm closure was to protect students and potentially provide additional beds for overwhelmed hospitals. They clarified that vulnerable students could file for exemption and students could leave their things locked in their rooms. 

NYU stands by its decision. In an email, a university spokesperson said, "Nobody wanted the semester to turn out this way. It breaks our hearts not to have our community in one place, as we normally do. But we do not have doubts about the decision, or the timetable; we certainly do not think it would have been safer or better for the health of our students to have had many thousands of NYU students in our residence halls trying to avoid infection and having to follow the Governor's Executive Order."

Students at Barnard also said they felt communication was inadequate and that the university’s suggestions of hiring movers were unrealistic for many. 

In Morningside Heights, Ellie Harrison, a sophomore at Barnard, said she “panic-packed” to get back to Switzerland where her family lives. She wished she had been given more notice, for herself as someone who lives abroad, and for her friends who had already left. 

“I think there's a little bit [of anger] with the college just going flip-floppy... Looking back on it, I understand, but in the moment I was very mad,” she said, explaining that everything felt fine just days before.

Harrison said she was upset about the communication, but was mostly upset about the circumstances.

“I understand why they needed to do this and they're really trying to protect their community,” said Samantha Elleman, a senior at Barnard. “But it was still very heartbreaking to hear.”

Seniors, soon to graduate, packed up their things, rushing to take photos in their caps and gowns before evacuating. 

“This is the end of being at Barnard, which has been my home for the past four years, which is really, really sad. I think everyone in the dorms at least is coming to terms with it because there's no hope of coming back to this place,” said Elleman. “It was a very emotional past few days of getting to the point where, okay, I just need to live with it and get over it.”

Barnard also allowed students to file for an exemption, have others move their things or to leave their things locked in their rooms until the end of the semester.

Students at NYU, Columbia and Barnard say the universities are working on partial refunds and students whose exemptions are accepted will remain on campus until the end of the semester. For CUNY, refunds are not as clear. 

According to CUNY, students with no other accommodations will be moved into the Queens College dorm but did not provide comment on whether students would be provided refunds. Agu said that many students have lost their jobs and international students who already pay higher tuition deserve to be partially refunded. 

Agu said she will use her power as a leader in the University Student Senate to fight for CUNY’s vulnerable students like herself. 

“It’s an overwhelming situation, but … I am trying to stay strong as a person and a leader,” she said. “The pandemic is no one’s fault. But students have been laid off from jobs… [CUNY] needs to find a way to issue refunds to students.”

Update: This post has be updated to reflect the move-out timing of Barnard College's request to students.