Mar. 26, 2020 – Important updates regarding university housing
Dear Vanderbilt Students,
We appreciate your patience as we continue to navigate uncharted territory as a result of COVID-19. We are making decisions based on the best information we have at any given time, and our staff is working around the clock to provide student support and assist with getting each student’s belongings back to them.
That being said, we have an update on our campus residences. Vanderbilt will begin consolidating remaining students into a smaller number of residence halls on campus. Consolidation will allow us to better support the students remaining on campus in terms of managing facilities, providing meal deliveries, and ensuring adequate staffing in the buildings. We want to ensure students continue to feel safe and supported while on campus during this unusual time.
The consolidation will also enable Vanderbilt to support Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). As the demands on health care may increase exponentially, Vanderbilt will assist VUMC by providing housing for medical staff working long hours and multiple shifts to address the expected surge in health care needs. VU will be able to assist VUMC through utilization of Vanderbilt facilities that are unoccupied after the consolidation of students who remain on campus.
If you have already left campus, what does this mean for you?
We know many of you departed campus, or did not return after spring break, and are eager to make plans to retrieve your belongings. Nashville Mayor John Cooper has declared a “Safer At Home” order until April 6. As a result, students will not be permitted to return to campus to remove belongings from their on-campus spaces until further notice.
As a result of this planned consolidation, we may need to reassign current residents, and pack and ship, or store, belongings of already departed residents in certain residence halls. We will notify affected current and departed residents prior to taking any action. Please note that UPS, our preferred provider, will be granted access to student spaces for the purpose of packing and shipping or storing student belongings at the student’s expense. Multiple occupant spaces may pose challenges to identifying ownership of items and we may reach out to roommates to provide remote assistance in order to properly pack belongings.
We are asking for your help.
We have prepared a very brief survey that we are asking you to complete as soon as possible. The “Belonging Status Form” can be accessed in the Student Housing Portal under the Applications menu.
The survey will ask if you have left campus, if you left belongings behind, if the belongings are packed and labeled, and other questions that will help us plan appropriately to assist you to the best of our ability. If you lived in a building we are seeking to clear for VUMC use, we will communicate with you before we begin boxing any of your belongings.
We value and appreciate your cooperation as we do our best to support the critical health care workers serving our community during this crisis. As a reminder, for the most updated information on the university’s response to COVID-19, please visit www.vanderbilt.edu/coronavirus.