July 6, 2020 – Important fall 2020 housing updates for students not yet assigned on-campus housing
Dear Students,
We write you to share new information about our housing plans for the fall semester. We implemented a number of changes to the housing process to protect your health and safety as much as possible this semester and are committed to working with you through this process in a way that meets the needs and wishes of as many of our students as we possibly can.
Please read the information below carefully and in its entirety.
QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION SPACE
Last month, we announced that Blakemore House and Scarritt Bennett Center, an off-campus property operated by the university and located in close proximity to campus, would be used as campus resident isolation and quarantine space.
As we have continued to prepare for the fall semester, we completed careful modeling of many campus housing scenarios. In consultation with public health officials, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the School of Nursing, we determined the need to reserve additional locations on campus for isolation and quarantine space to ensure the health and safety of all of our campus residents this semester.
Additional on-campus isolation and quarantine housing has been identified in the Chaffin apartments and the OHARE at the Village at Vanderbilt Townhouses and South Tower to support on-campus residential undergraduates who may await COVID test results or become ill during the fall semester. These two locations will be used because their location and their physical layout are best suited for isolation and quarantine.
As a result, Chaffin apartments and OHARE at the Village at Vanderbilt will be removed from the housing assignment process. Students previously assigned to those locations will hear directly from OHARE staff with next steps shortly to ensure a smooth reassignment process to a new location. Any student who has been assigned housing in Chaffin or OHARE at the Village at Vanderbilt will be guaranteed a place in a different Vanderbilt-operated location.
OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING APPLICATION
We understand that students who have not yet received their housing assignment may now wish to live off campus since these locations are no longer available. In response, we have reopened the off-campus housing application for all students who have not yet been assigned on-campus housing. The application is available in the Student Housing Portal under the “Applications” menu. The new deadline to apply is 5 p.m. CDT Friday, July 31, 2020.
As a reminder, we resumed the housing assignment process yesterday. Specific housing options and room assignment procedures are available in the updated Guide to the Housing Assignment Process.
Simply applying for off-campus housing does not lock you in and you can continue the housing assignment process if you would like. OHARE will review off-campus housing applications and will grant requests daily. Once you are granted off-campus authorization, you will have one week to decline your request for off-campus housing. The decline deadline date will be listed in the email you receive granting your request to live off-campus. If you choose to decline your off-campus housing authorization offer by the deadline, you can continue to participate in the on-campus housing assignment process. If you do not decline the off-campus offer by the deadline, you will not be eligible for on-campus housing.
Please understand that your housing decisions, both with regard to accepting a housing assignment or being granted off-campus authorization, will be final. Once you select a room in the housing assignment process, you are no longer eligible for off-campus authorization. If you have been granted and accepted off-campus authorization, you are no longer eligible to participate in the housing assignment process.
We recognize that this change may be disruptive for some, and are committed to working with you to complete the housing assignment and authorization processes. Please visit the Return to Campus FAQ for more information or contact the Fall 2020 helpline at 615-322-4357. We will continue to update this page with new information as soon as we have it. In the coming weeks, we will have detailed information to share with you regarding move-in dates and instructions.
We thank you for your patience, resilience and cooperation as we work to create a healthy and safe experience for all students this fall.