Bluffton University students have been eagerly waiting the past few weeks to move out their belongings due to the urgency to leave campus in early March. Now, after almost two months, students can finally return to campus to clear out the residence halls between May 6 and 9.
Tyson Goings, photo by Aubrey Bartel
Tyson Goings, director of Residence Life, has been working with the other Residence Life staff to create a process of moving out for students that also follow the guidelines Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has placed during this pandemic.
“The biggest challenge is dealing with moving out during a pandemic,” said Goings. “For safety [during this move out process], we can only have a certain number of people in the halls at one time and because of the time restrictions, students may have a challenge finding a person to come help them with their belongings during those time frames.”
Goings said the plan is to have two floors move out of a building at a time. Each floor is assigned a specific door to use so there can be a limited number of people in a small space to help with the social distancing. Students will also only be given an hour to move out of their rooms and are permitted one other person to help them. Everyone will be required to wear gloves and masks. The overall goal is to get students in and out safely with their belongings, and the dorms cleared out in the four-day time frame.
“We are getting information at the same time as everyone else concerning the safety measures in place in the state which has made it difficult to plan very far in advance when you don’t know when restrictions will ease,” said Goings. “We know that there is no perfect plan for moving out in this situation considering there are so many people involved and they all have different life schedules but we are doing our best for our students in this challenging situation.”
Residence life has been doing their best during this time, and with the hope there will not be a situation like this again, they have decided this move out plan is the best with the guidelines they have to follow and if anything would need to change for future years, they will see to it at that time.
Goings encourages students who have concerns about this process to contact Residence Life directly.
