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.