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You are here: Home / News / ResLife has new measures to keep residents safe
Barret Hall(Photo by Matthew Baker)

ResLife has new measures to keep residents safe

April 9, 2020 by Alyssa High

Residence Life has implemented new measures to keep remaining residents safe.

On March 20, ACU President Phil Shubert announced via email that residents have until May 31 to move out of their residence halls:

“At this time, out of an abundance of caution and care, we are limiting access to our residence halls to students who currently meet one (or more) of the following criteria:

a) The student’s permanent residence is outside of the U.S. and she/he is unable to travel to their home country.

b) The student’s academic department has deemed their in-person internship, clinical or practicum will continue and requires their on-site presence, and s/he has accepted that arrangement.

c) The student has personal circumstances preventing her/him from returning home. Some examples include:

    • The student is classified as an independent.
    • The student is part of the foster care system.
    • The student/student’s family does not have a permanent address.
    • The student’s home community is quarantined and is not allowing open travel to/from that location.
    • Returning home represents a health/safety threat to the student or those at home.
    • Returning home will prevent the student from accessing their courses remotely because of insufficient internet and technology capabilities.”

While there are normally around 2,000 students living in residence halls at ACU, less than 1 percent remain, totalling around 150 students, according to Tamara Long, interim vice president for student life.

“Our goal is to provide housing for any student who does not have a home to go back to or to stay in safely,” said Long.

None of the RA staff are required to stay, but about 30 percent of them chose to, said Long.  All Resident Directors are permanent staff members and will remain on campus.

For those remaining on campus, ResLife has implemented new policies to keep the students safe. To enforce social distancing, The Bean is available for to-go food only and students follow curfew and check-in rules via phone. Posters are posted around campus to remind students of social distancing protocols and safety measures.

ResLife is asking each RA to reach out to their students via phone twice a week, said Ng Okorie, junior psychology major from Plano and senior resident advisor for Barret Hall.

“We just want to make sure that somebody is actively checking on them during this time,” Okorie said.

If any resident tests positive for the virus, they will move into a designated quarantine room where each meal will be delivered to them. In order to leave the quarantine area, the resident must test negative twice, with a seventy-two-hour gap between each test, per Center for Disease Control regulations.

In Barret, a sophomore women’s residence hall, there are only five people living in the whole building, said Okorie.

“It’s very quiet and we miss our residents,” Okorie said.

There have been no positive cases of COVID-19 in any residence on campus yet, according to Long.

Filed Under: News, Showcase

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Alyssa High

About Alyssa High

-The Optimist Opinion Editor
-Creative Media Intern at Herald of Truth
-Enneagram 3w4
-Convergence Journalism major ‘21

You are here: Home / News / ResLife has new measures to keep residents safe

Other News:

  • Student arrested on child porn charge

  • ACU to join Western Athletic Conference in July

  • Sing Song 2021 to ban sets, significantly limit act capacity

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Active COVID-19 cases dropped for the fifth-consecutive day at ACU Friday. There are currently 30 active cases and 86 quarantines.

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Yu Zhong, a psychology major from Lijiang, China, was arrested Friday at his University Park apartment on child porn charges, according to police. This is a developing story. Read more below:
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Active COVID-19 cases dropped for the fifth- consecutive day at ACU Friday. There are currently 30 active cases and 86 quarantines. Taylor County continues to see increased numbers with over 2500 active cases. ...

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Yu Zhong, a freshman psychology major from Lijiang, China, was arrested Friday at his University Park apartment on child porn charges, according to police. This is a developing story. Read more below: ...

Student arrested on child porn charge - Optimist

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Yu Zhong, a freshman psychology major from Lijiang, China, was arrested Friday at his University Park apartment on child porn charges, according to police. Zhong, 23, was arrested after he was flagged by software that detects child porn. “While no corner of our society is immune from these challen...
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