Moving out on a moment’s notice

All USD residents forced to leave campus in response to new COVID-19 policies

Mikaela Foehr / News Editor / The USD Vista

Moving trucks, the packing of boxes, and tearful goodbyes are all that could be seen outside the dorms at USD over the past week. Students have been packing up their dorm rooms to move back to various parts of the country and world in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, but a 24-hour relocation notice by the school has made it all the more stressful. 

When President James T. Harris III, D.Ed. announced on March 12 that the university would transition to “remote living and learning” for the remainder of the semester, he gave the students and faculty a one-week buffer to get ready. The initial announcement also allowed students to move out by March 23, and the option to request to stay in campus housing for the remainder of the semester. But since then, a lot has changed. The 24-hour relocation request was made in response to new San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency orders which included suspending all types of gatherings at universities, according to the COVID-19 Action Team email. 

Cynthia Avery, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, explained in an emailed response how the county ordinance was impacting students. 

“As a result of the County of San Diego Order, we are no longer permitted students to remain on campus,” Avery said. “We have asked any residents who planned to stay on campus, and who had received approval to explore additional options for their housing.”

This is a drastic shift from USD’s previous statements, but it does reflect the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak in California. Despite the mandated expulsion of students in dorms, Avery maintained that the school is doing what it can to support students who have no other place to go. 

“We have made short term (leases) available for students at Pacific Ridge and Loma Palisades apartment complexes,” Avery said. “We are currently in the process of moving furniture into these apartments, assigning rooms and assisting students to move their belongings to their new home.”

The university also plans to continue providing meal services for these students according to Avery’s email. 

Although the university is attempting to do what it can, the 24-hour move out notice combined with Governor Newsom’s “shelter in place” ordinance has created an intense amount of stress for students and their families.

Chris Camus, a sophomore from the Bay Area, had to accelerate his move-out process when the notice came. Beside pushing up travel plans, the notice also made Camus realize how dire of a situation the COVID-19 outbreak is. 

“I was planning to move out on Sunday, but then this notice came out of the blue,” Camus said. “It made the whole situation a lot more real for me and really stressed me and my parents out, though probably for good reason.”

Despite the uncertainty Camus faced, he believes that USD did its best when it came to informing students what was happening and why.

“Even though we weren’t directly in contact with anyone from campus administration, I felt like they did the best they could given the situation,” Camus said. “I honestly think they made the right call in the end.”

Although the notice, communicated through email and dorm door postings, used language that some deemed as strict, the university was flexible with students who could not move out within the 24-hour window. 

Resident Assistants (RAs) in all dorms have had to balance added responsibilities and changing university policies on top of moving themselves out. Isaiah Jarquin, a sophomore RA in Valley B, explained just how confusing this process was. 

“Before this all started (on March 12), RAs were told that we were going to know what was going to happen first so we could be prepared to support our residents, but that didn’t happen,” Jarquin said. “This late communication meant we didn’t know what to do on our parts.”

Confusion has continued with the changing policies which have impacted the necessity and responsibility of RAs on campus, but these resident leaders are still taking their job seriously. Jarquin, who moved off campus as soon as he was able, has continued to be in contact with his residents to answer any questions they might have during this intense time of flux.

“I am just trying to answer what I can and direct them to people who know more,” Jarquin said.

As students continue to move out of the dorms, USD is continuing to offer support systems where they can. However, they are restricted by increasingly stringent federal, state, and local health agency recommendations which can make the support offered seem inadequate to some. In the coming weeks, policies around the COVID-19 outbreak will continue to change and updates on how the campus community is affected by them can be found on USD’s COVID-19 website.