Barely one month ago, when colleges around the United States began sending resident students home because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, feelings were understandably mixed. On the one hand, campus dorms—including communal dining halls, shared gyms, and school libraries—seem ripe for the spread of the virus. On the other, students already paid for their housing, and not all have another home to go to. Many schools reached a compromise: for students with extenuating circumstances, like being unable to travel to their home country or not having another permanent address, they could remain on campus, albeit without guests or certain communal amenities. Since then, one question has remained in the background: What, if anything, would happen to all of those empty rooms?
Hampshire College, a liberal arts school in western Massachusetts, is leading with an inspiring example. The college is offering some of its empty dorm rooms to house the homeless community infected with the novel coronavirus.
Ed Wingenbach, the president of Hampshire College, as well as the Amherst Town Manager, Paul Bockelman, gave a statement to local station 22News WWLP confirming that up to eight empty rooms will be available for people diagnosed with COVID-19 who don’t require hospitalization. In the face of needing self-isolation and yet having no place to go, homeless people are in an especially vulnerable situation. Added to this, of course, is the reality that many homeless people are chronically disadvantaged because of minimal access to nutrition, medical care, and hygiene resources. The college will also provide people staying on campus with three meals a day. According to MassLive, Amherst will provide 24-hour staffing.
“Quite simply, this is the right thing to do,” Wingenbach stated. “There is no question that Hampshire College has been hit hard during this crisis, as have all colleges and universities. But we felt it was our obligation to the community – our home – to help with whatever resources we have at our disposal.”
In San Francisco, homeless people who need to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic are being set up with RVs to do so. The temporary housing will be available for people who have tested positive for the virus and don’t need to be hospitalized.
Some schools are offering their empty dorms to be used for hospital overflow. As reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York University, for example, told residents their need to move out partially came down to “significant indications that the state, as part of its contingency planning, is looking at university dormitories as settings for overflow beds from hospitals grappling with potentially overwhelming numbers of sick patients.” Tufts University, outside of Boston, Massachusetts, has offered up its dorms for patients as well. At Middlebury College, based in Vermont, the institution is offering up its buildings, including offering to drain the campus ice rink in case it could be useful as a pop-up, portable hospital.
One exception, of course, is that evangelical college Liberty University welcomed residents back to campus after their spring break. Then some students reported possible COVID-19 symptoms.
If there are colleges or universities in your community, how, if at all, are they responding to the pandemic?