U of W, Brandon clearing out residences, sending students home

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This article was published 18/03/2020 (1780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some post-secondary students who live in residence are being asked to vacate their buildings as Manitoba schools implement social distancing on campuses across the province.

The University of Winnipeg, Brandon University and L’Université de Saint-Boniface have asked students to return home amid efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“With the rapidly evolving public health situation, we are encouraging all current student residents to return home if they can do so,” Kevin Rosen, a spokesman for the U of W, wrote in a statement to the Free Press.

Rosen said the university will begin to space out the rooms of students who must stay due to “exceptional circumstances,” and provide meal delivery and meals-to-go services, as well as continue to undertake additional cleaning in the facilities.

The school will not impose any penalties for cancellations or adjustments to residence contracts, Rosen said. It has halted accepting applications for McFeetors Hall and Balmoral Houses buildings — currently home to a total of 198 students — indefinitely.

A resident of McFeetors Hall, Tressa McDonald is making arrangements to return home to Thompson next week. Although her first-year university experience won’t finish off as expected, McDonald, 19, said she thinks the measures are fair.

“A lot of people are scared,” she said.

Both of McDonald’s final lectures and exams will be online. “Finishing online is going to be tough, and teaching myself the material will also be tough,” she said Wednesday afternoon.

For the time being, the University of Manitoba is “strongly” encouraging students who can return home safely to do so as soon as possible to increase social distancing in residence communities. It has reduced the number of residence advisors in each building.

Red River College has opted not to send anyone home, citing its residence’s size of 100 students. Spokesman Conor Lloyd said the college is able to meet social-distancing directives in the building.

“We don’t want any of our students to be without a place to live,” Lloyd said, adding the college’s temporary measures apply campus-wide: suspended in-person classes, no public events and the only visitors allowed in are vendors and contractors who perform essential services.

Meanwhile in Brandon, all student residents are being asked to leave before Sunday evening. Spokesman Grant Hamilton said Wednesday the decision was made after “careful consideration.”

Hamilton said the school is making exceptions for international students and those who are already self-isolating in their rooms. Students who live an “extreme distance,” away from home will also be given extra time to pack up.

Combined, BU’s Darrach Hall, Flora Cowan Hall and McMaster Hall can accommodate almost 500 students. There are currently under 300 still living on campus.

Whitney Hodgins, vice-president internal at the Brandon University Students’ Union, said students are concerned about accommodation and meal plan losses. The school has yet to announce if and how it will compensate students.

Hodgins said that students are also questioning the logic of a mandatory move out, since it could invite more people to campus to mingle during the weekend. “(The school may be) forcing family members to come out of self-isolation to help them move. If all families are doing this over the course of a weekend, how is that exposure going to flatten the curve?” she said.

L’Université de Saint-Boniface, which has 65 students in residence, imposed a “voluntary shutdown,” over the weekend. Spokeswoman Dominique Philibert said the school is restricting access and visitors, limiting inter-apartment visits, closing common room spaces and requesting that students stay home if possible and avoid any non-essential trips.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie