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Westminster housing still open for students who can’t return home

Campus housing is still available to those that need it as announced by President Dobkins on March 12th. The dorm halls look empty due to students heading home during this crisis. (Lewis Figun Westbrook)

After the announcement campus would be closing, several students living on campus have been making adjustments to their living situations. 

On Thursday March 12, President Dobkin asked students to not return to campus unless it was necessary. In an interview with The Forum, Dobkin confirmed accommodations would be made for those who had to stay on campus because they had nowhere else to go. 

“For now, they will go through the same processes required when students stay over school breaks,” Dobkin said. 

Katie Perry, a sophomore living on campus at Westminster College, said she chose to leave her campus housing to go home because of the college’s recommendations. With her family living in Bountiful, Utah, she said it wasn’t too big a hassle. 

“I also wanted to be close to my family because they are my support system,” Perry said in an email. “However […] being close to them does cause me some anxiety.”

Students who chose to stay on campus said they have still felt the support from their residential advisors.

Tabitha Edson, a sophomore public health major who is a resident advisor on campus said the advisors weren’t given a choice to leave campus — but she’s glad to stay so she could be available for residents who don’t have the option to go home.

“I still want them to know that I am a resource to help them,” Edson said. “Even if it is just over text rather than face-to-face.” 

However, the changes on campus has its challenges. Edson said the move to online work will affect how she stays connected with her peers. 

“I feel really isolated on campus because there are not many people here, food services are really limited, and most people are practicing social distancing (which is a good thing),” Edson said in an email.

*Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated resident advisors were given the choice to leave campus. They were not.

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Alexys Smith is a senior studying communication. She is excited to learn more about managing a budget and work with outside campus organizations. You can find her doing yoga, making short films, and talking with her family.

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