Sac State considers moving student residents to single hall amid coronavirus outbreak
‘I think it would be a smarter idea to just move all of them in one’
The outside of the residence halls at Sac State on Wednesday, March 18. The university is considering moving student residents into one living hall to consolidate space amid coronavirus’ effects on the campus.
March 18, 2020
Sacramento State announced in a video update by Vice President of Student Affairs Ed Mills Tuesday that the university is considering the consolidation of students in on-campus housing into one dorm hall amid the coronavirus crisis.
Mills has been addressing the student body’s concerns over campus’ closure in a series of videos that answer students’ questions and concerns regarding Sac State and COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus outbreak.
In Tuesday’s video, Mills said there are currently 2,000 students still living on campus and that if students choose to leave, the university would work with them.
“If you are choosing to leave, if you have a home or other place you can go talk to your RA,” Mills said. “Or talk to the folks in the housing office and we can arrange that. We are going to prorate fees to the time that you check out.”
Story continues after video.
Mills said that the reason the residence halls stayed open was because many students did not have another place to go. He said he wanted to make sure that students had a home.
Sac State student Jas Mann, who said she plans to leave Sacramento within the next few days, shared her concern that the consolidation seemed to be the opposite to what Sac State was urging about social distancing.
“I feel like, isn’t that the whole point of distancing?” Mann said. “So I don’t know how that would help.”
She added that the move would just be a hassle and it would be similar to moving out of the dorms completely, only to end up in another building close by.
“We might consolidate students into one residence hall if it gets down to a smaller number,” Mills said. “But we won’t shut down the hall, we wanna make sure you have a place to live through the end of the semester.”
Michael Speros, executive director of Housing and Residential Life at Sac State, said that in the case of the halls closing, the university would attempt to help students without other housing plans.
“While there are no plans to close the halls, should that occur, the campus would work with students who do not have a place to go,” Speros said in an email. “(University Housing Services) would figure out a way to consolidate, yet maintain social distancing. If the latter couldn’t be accomplished, we would keep the building open and consider consolidation within the building.”
Mills assured students the university plans to work through the situation as things continue to change.
Yessenia Ramirez, a Sac State student who lives in the dorms, said she agrees the university should move all students together.
“I think it would be a smarter idea to just move all of them in one, charge them, and then the people that are leaving: flat out give them their money back,” Ramirez said.
Mills also urged students to monitor the university’s main webpage for updates as the information given in the video could possibly change.
“I don’t have a problem with them moving everyone,” said Maria Magana, a Sac State student and resident of the dorms. “If it has to be done, it has to be done.”
Magana said many people she knew who lived in the halls were in the process of leaving Sac State for the rest of the semester.
Additional reporting by Kayleen Carter. This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is gathered.
CORRECTION: Thursday, March 19, 2020
The original posting of this story incorrectly attributed information from Executive Director of Housing and Residential Life Michael Speros. Director of News and Communications Brian Blomster sent information from Speros in an email to The State Hornet. This story has been updated to reflect the correct attribution.
Same • Mar 23, 2020 at 9:17 am
I personally come from a home that isn’t completely safe to go back to. My dad is toxic and sometimes can turn abusive, I have had to outrun him and lock myself behind several doors. God knows what will happen if he ever manages to catch me, and there is nothing I can do because he has always told me that if I reported him, he would stop paying for my college (he’s got 50%+) and I (and possibly my mom) would be forced to scramble to afford a new home to live in because he would take everything.
However, I cannot risk getting sick. I cannot risk getting a new roommate or mingling with people beyond what I already do. My career path entirely depends on me being physically fit enough to serve my community. If I got the virus and my lungs were damaged, I would be unable to do any of my dream jobs for life, and I would have to start from scratch to think of and study for a new career. This would force me to live with my father for an even longer period of time, and the man destroys my mental health whenever I am home with him.
Unfortunately, the mental harm done at home is a lesser evil to the harm that could be done to me should I get sick from being moved around and introduced to dozens of new people. I am one of those students who cannot escape either situation, and I am pleading with Sac State to Let Us Shelter In Place. Do not move us, please. I implore you. Or people like me will have to go home to bad situations.
Emily • Mar 23, 2020 at 9:04 am
This is a terrible idea. I work on campus and both staff and residents have bragged how they don’t give a f and will go out and “have fun” on weekends and during spring break as planned. Further, there are still a considerable amount of residents who work on and off campus who are exposed to lots of people daily. If students are spread out into their respective dorms as they are currently, doing damage control and isolating people will be much easier and safer. However, if everyone is moved into one or two dorms and one reckless person comes back sick, half or the entire remaining student residential population will have to be put on quarantine/lockdown. If Sac State goes through with this move, and we go under lockdown because a resident is sick, I will personally file a lawsuit against Sacramento State University for endangering my health and the health of others, and I am sure other people will join and make it a class action lawsuit.
I sent an email to Ed Mills, ASI President Denisse Garcia, President Nelson, and University Housing Services that says the following:
As a resident, I must implore you not to move students into one hall all together. For example, if everyone from different halls shares the same bathrooms, showers, and cooking space in Riverview, the likelihood of anyone who is sick contaminating everyone else is very high. Moving residents into the AMC dorm is only slightly less risky because 4-5 people will be sharing a common space and sink area, but the only stove that is available to residents is in a shared area, and during the moving process no matter where we go, people will be in close proximity as everyone shuttles their belongings back and fourth from their original dorm to their new one. Also, moving everyone into AMC will likely force current residents to take new roommates, exposing people who were otherwise sheltering in place even further to new people they have not interacted with. Remember that the virus can live on surfaces from a few hours up to 3 days depending on what the surface material is [NIH source, https://tinyurl.com/r9xvqp8 ]. Students don’t even have access to the WELL anymore unless they have an emergency or a specific appointment. If housing is going to make everyone move and have masses of people share the same few showers and bathrooms, why would they tell us residents not to have guests from other halls over? It doesn’t make sense that you know mixing the dorms is bad but that you’re willing to expose people to each other through this moving process. Further, now that we are having a higher and higher level of shelter in place orders imposed by the state of California as time goes on, the CDC is telling everyone to stay home and not mingle, and Sac State wants people to avoid gathering in groups of ten or more, having everyone move around and into one (or two) dorm as suggested in earlier emails violates all of those principles.
The entire state of California has been told to keep physical distance. The CDC is advising people to stay at home and away from other people who are not in our immediate living quarters as much as possible, and there is talk that the order for social distancing could go on past the summer time. As of March the 20th, Sacramento has had 53 confirmed cases and 3 of those are deaths [ https://tinyurl.com/upbjwy8 source]; and according to the CDC, “The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community in some affected geographic areas;”[ https://tinyurl.com/uum9axp source]. We are an affected area, as much as I hate to say it. Having an ever decreasing number of people living in the dorms spread out over several buildings is excellent for stopping any potential for the virus to spread, it guarantees less and less interaction between people. As residents move out, it may be tempting to put us all in one building to save on electricity and such, but is it worth the potential cost of human life?
Also of note, all of the dorms have immunosuppressed residents, some of which may or may not be able to leave campus at this time, and making everyone share spaces and become exposed to new people when most of us have been isolating all this time is a risk not just to the general student population, but to immunosuppressed people especially. People who have no other place to live other than the dorms have no option to leave their residence on campus and avoid the chance of sickness if this risky plan is acted upon, there is no escape from this for students who face abuse at home, those who would otherwise be homeless, and for those whose families are currently unable to come and help them move out. Please reconsider making everyone move in together, and if it must be done, please at least do not move everyone into Riverview because we would be sharing bathrooms, showers, common areas, and cooking spaces (something that will become vital to eating if the Dining Commons must be shut down in the future).
Thank you.