Update: SLU Housing Consolidation Plan

03/26/2020

Dear on-campus residents, 

We keep hearing and talking about how we are navigating uncharted territory and living through an unprecedented moment in time. I recognize that many of you might feel like you are caught between extremes of emotion from anxiety to hope – all while resuming regularly-scheduled coursework in a new format. 

That's a lot for anyone to process. But your generation is no stranger to difficult times, and you have the resiliency to help lead us through this. 

We hear you. We see you. And most importantly, we are here for you. 

I know the thought of moving from your current on-campus home is stressful. We want to and plan to mitigate that stress as much as possible, but I need you to hear me say that our mission is calling us to balance attention to your needs and desires with those of our greater community, which is why I am writing to you tonight. 

Starting tomorrow, students will begin to hear from Housing and Residence Life (HRL) about what, for many of you, will be a new housing assignment. In general, students who currently live in a residence hall will continue to live in a residence hall, and students who live in apartments will continue to live in apartments. But many of you will be moving to new locations. Assignments and moving schedules will be made on a rolling basis. This is because the process depends upon vacant spaces being cleaned and disinfected, which can only happen after spaces have been vacant for a number of days (in order to protect the health of our Custodial Services team). If you don’t receive your assignment right away, I am asking for your patience. We want to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in these moves, and that requires us to take time and care. 

Please know that we have arrived at the new housing plan after many days of consideration and consultation. We’ve weighed a lot of input from many of you and from our public health experts, and we feel confident that it balances the things we most value. 

So, what should you know? I will outline some details for you below this message, but I want to share some of our key goals in designing this plan. First, it allows us to space out residents in order to maximize social distancing practices and mitigate risks. Second -- and importantly -- it meets the needs of our students who are particularly concerned about the health risks posed by COVID-19. It also creates dedicated spaces for those students who could – in the days and weeks to come – contract COVID-19 while living on campus. 

In working with public health experts, we made sure to go above the minimum recommendations, reaching for the ideal, not just the acceptable. A critical goal of this plan is to reduce the risk of infection among students who remain on campus — and to do everything we can to ensure you leave here healthy after finals. Another critical goal is to mitigate risks for SLU employees who support and care for you everyday, including HRL student and professional staff, Student Health Center staff, Custodial Services staff, DPS officers, and many others. 

Finally, the plan also allows us to live our mission by freeing up buildings we can offer up for the Greater Good -- to frontline healthcare workers and others in our community to whom we may be called upon to offer hospitality. 

Of course, those of you who will receive new housing assignments may decide you no longer wish to remain on campus. We understand that and will respect your decision. If you do change your mind, please email reslife@slu.edu -- and remember that there is a March 30 move-out deadline in order to get a room and board refund. 

In closing, let me say again that I know this period has been stressful. But I believe you will soon be settled into your new space and fully focused on your academic work soon. And I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of a university that was able to continue to provide on-campus housing for students. This was not a given, and many other institutions have had to completely close their doors. 

It dawned on me today that, even before we heard President Pestello used the term “OneSLU” in a message over the weekend, Billikens already knew that’s what we are. We live it. Thank you to all of you for patience and willingness to navigate these uncertainties together as OneSLU. 

Warmly,

Debie

Debra Rudder Lohe, Ph.D.
Interim Vice President for Student Development
studev@slu.edu 

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At-A-Glance: SLU Housing Consolidation Plan 

Reminder: you will begin hearing from Housing and Residence Life starting tomorrow about your housing assignments and moving schedules. They will email on a rolling basis as spaces become ready. We also are working to update the Housing Information page on SLU’s COVID-19 website with new FAQs, so keep an eye on those as well. 

General Principles 

• No students will share living quarters, including apartments – even if the space has multiple bedrooms.
• Students may choose to live in housing with “standard precautions,” basically aligned with St. Louis’ “stay-at home” Order and other University expectations about social distancing and other public health behaviors. Or students may live in housing with “advanced precautions” that include coordinated efforts to minimize face-to-face interactions during essential activities such as obtaining food and doing laundry beyond what is required by the city’s “stay-at home” Order.
• At any time, the spread of the virus may require us to increase restrictions for both housing groups in consultation with or at the order of public health authorities.
• Students in all on-campus housing will be spread out, and no building will be operating at more than a 50-percent capacity.
• SLU facilities crews have implemented enhanced cleaning for common spaces, elevators, hallways, etc., informed by public health experts.
• No non-SLU visitors are allowed in on-campus student housing.
• No building-to-building visitors are allowed, except in the Grand Hall dining space where 10 or fewer students can congregate as long as social distancing requirements are met.
• Room-to-room visitation within a building should be done in accordance with social distancing expectations.
• Spaces designated for students who contract COVID-19 have been chosen to allow the least amount of exposure for other students and for our Student Health Center, Facilities, DPS, and other staff. Students suspected of or confirmed as having COVID-19 will temporarily relocate from their assigned housing unit until medical experts agree it is safe for them to return to their rooms/apartments. (Note: There are no on-campus cases of COVID-19. This is for precautionary planning purposes.)

Logistics 

• Students who chose “advanced precautions” housing will likely move to Grand Hall. HRL will begin reaching out to these individuals by phone to be sure we understand any specific needs and to make any adjustments necessary.
• Students who currently live in a residence hall who chose “standard precautions” housing will move to Spring Hall. In order to achieve the social distancing we require, roommates will be separated.
1. Students who currently live in Grand Hall may be able to remain in Grand Hall, if they agree to abide by the advanced precautions required for living in Grand. Students should discuss with HRL when they are notified of their housing assignment.
• Most students who live in on-campus apartments (e.g., Grand Forest, the Village) will move into an on-campus apartment in one of the Marchetti Towers, at which standard precautions will be in place unless circumstances call for them to be heightened.

• Students who currently live in Marchetti Towers will likely remain in their current apartment.
1. However, if there is more than one person living in a Marchetti apartment, someone will be asked to move to a different apartment within that building so that we may abide by public health recommendations.
• Students who live in Robert May Hall will not be relocated.
• Students who live in on-campus apartments and who work in healthcare facilities are at a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 patients. This means we need to think carefully about where they will live, and we are working to identify the best spaces for those individuals.
• Those students who have not received approval for an exception to remain on campus are expected to move out by March 30. This deadline will ensure they receive the previously announced refund for room and board.
• Any student who fills an exception request from this point forward will be required to live in either Spring Hall for “standard precautions” housing or Grand Hall for “advanced precautions” housing.
• Any student whose belongings are still in their spring 2020 housing unit needs to make moving arrangements as soon as possible, unless previously discussed with Housing and Residence Life (HRL). Hazzard Moving & Storage in St. Louis is an option for those who cannot come to campus. Any belongings remaining on campus after March 30 will be considered abandoned, unless you have been granted a waiver from HRL. If you have concerns about this, please contact HRL at 314-977-2811 or reslife@slu.edu.

Buildings for the Greater Good

Remaining residence halls and on-campus apartment complexes will be reserved for the needs of our region, such as temporary living quarters for medical staff and overflow space for hospital patients.

We are working closely with our SLUCare physicians, SSM Health physicians and administrators, government officials, and public health experts in the region to determine the best use of these halls as the virus spreads. 

It’s important to note that we have designed a plan that separates these spaces from the reconsolidated housing spaces in which our students will live.