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Living on Campus Open House

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June 29, 2020 -Housing and Dining Virtual Open house with Jenna Finley, Ed.D. Executive Director of Campus Community & Climate and Tobias Guzmán, Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs.

Bryson Kelly (00:00:00):
Hello everyone, my name is Bryson Kelly and I serve as the Interim Associate Director of Recruitment for the UNC Office of Admissions. Today, we are so excited to connect you with three dedicated campus leaders who will share with you UNC approach to the fall 2020 semester. As you know things continually to change quickly as a result of COVID-19 and we will do everything we can to answer your questions.

Bryson Kelly (00:00:22):
During the program, all mics will be muted, and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions using the Q&A button. You can begin asking questions using this tool now. We will attempt to have all questions answered either in the Q&A function live via our panelists or through a follow-up email once the program concludes. With that, I'd like to introduce to you our moderator for the next hour, Leah Schultz. Leah is a Regional Admission Counselor working in Denver and also a UNC alum. Take it away, Leah.

Leah Schultz (00:00:52):
Hi everybody. Thank you so much for joining us, and I am pleased to introduce three of our UNC leaders and mentors in student affairs, campus community, and climate. We have Dr. Tobias Guzmán, who serves as the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer at UNC. Dr. Guzmán approaches his work with a focus on building relationships and fostering a culture of care. The central tenants drive a culture of care philosophy with students and their experiences are a top priority.

Leah Schultz (00:01:25):
Dr. Guzmán works diligently to provide students with the necessary resources they need to progress along their path to success. And lastly, on a personal note, Tobias is an alum of UNC, holds a black belt in karate with 30 years of experience, and has research interests in equity and social justice impacts on communities and preventing student departure in colleges and universities.

Leah Schultz (00:01:50):
Next, we have Dr. Jenna Finley, who serves as the Executive Director of Student Affairs responsible for Housing and Residential Education and Dining Services at UNC. She arrived at UNC in 2002 after working at CU Boulder, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Ball State University. She holds an undergraduate degree in social work and masters in student affairs leadership, and a doctorate in education focused on higher education leadership.

Leah Schultz (00:02:20):
Dr. Finley's work has focused on developing inclusive communities, focused on student success and support and exceptional service. Dr. Finley lives in Greeley has three children aged 25, 20, and 13. And is an avid runner having completed several ultramarathons in the past few years.

Leah Schultz (00:02:39):
Lastly, with us today is UNC Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Mark Anderson. Dr. Anderson joined UNC as the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs in the spring of 2019. Dr. Anderson most recently served as the Dean of College and Science and Mathematics at Kennesaw State. As Provost, Dr. Anderson oversees everything from enrollment management to advising.

Leah Schultz (00:03:05):
I'm grateful to have all of these panelists with you today and also all of you. We have almost 200 future Bears joining us today. So I'm going to let Tobias kick things off by further introducing himself and telling you more about living on campus, what's happening today and where we are headed. And then Dr. Finley and Mark Anderson will also join in with some other campus updates.

Tobias Guzmán (00:03:31):
Thank you, Leah. I appreciate this opportunity. Welcome and good evening future Bears and parents of future Bears. My name is Tobias Guzmán. And as Leah mentioned to you, I am an alum of UNC. So I'm here to give you a little bit of perspective of what I think I have an opportunity to do is shared with you about the wonderful place that UNC is. I've been spent a good amount of time here understanding the culture, as well as how we educate students of today.

Tobias Guzmán (00:04:07):
I remember in one of my opportunities this weekend to kind of get out of the house. I wanted to head over downtown in Denver. And what I thought about was the research that I did as a student here at UNC about 28 years ago, 29 years ago. And I was a sociology major and focused on my research on homelessness. I remember going downtown and talking with our homeless population and talking with the various people that run our Homeless Coalition. And so it brought back lots of memories but what I tie that to is the work that I did here at UNC and the education that I had the opportunity to do here at UNC is really some of our social issues that we're still experiencing today. Happy to answer questions for you. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Finley and she can introduce herself.

Jenna Finley (00:05:17):
Hello, everyone. My name is Jenna Finley and as mentioned I've been at UNC for 18 years. And as you can imagine, the past five months or so have been a period of lots of change and planning for this fall. I want to start off today by talking about the moving letter that went out earlier today. I must apologize. It's one of the column that they pulled room number from was not correct. And so you'll just need to disregard the number that's contained in your letter and log back into your housing contract through our housing portal. And that will have your room number.

Jenna Finley (00:05:59):
We haven't moved anyone so if you selected your own room, that space should still be the same. But as always, I know people are always reassured when they go back in and just have a double-check. I've seen a few questions in the chat regarding move in. One was, is my roommate staying the same from what I saw when I assigned myself? And generally, yes, it is always possible that students, for some reason move themselves at this point. So if it's not someone you know well, it's a good idea to go in and check through. Wednesday, people can still log in and make changes. So that would be the reason that things would change versus us making a change.

Jenna Finley (00:06:41):
As mentioned in the letter, there will be single rooms available in Wilson Hall. So you can also send us an email and tell us you're interested in that and we would be making moves based on that change as well. I did see another question in the chat about only having 30 minutes to move in. And I want to clarify a little bit about why we think that that's possible.

Jenna Finley (00:07:07):
We provide some very large laundry bins that are carts that help with the move-in process. And generally, we do find in terms of being able to move your belongings physically from the car to the room is about a 30-minute process. Packing and getting settled in your room was a completely different story in terms of timeframe. But getting things, belongings into your room when we talk to students, and our staff that is about what it takes and sometimes even a little bit less. So, from there, I think we'll just open it up. I know we have lots of questions, and we'll turn it over to the moderator.

Leah Schultz (00:07:50):
You started answering the questions that I was prepared to ask. How did you decide which ones. So we do have a question about if a first-year is taking all of their classes online, are they still required to live on campus?

Jenna Finley (00:08:07):
Yes, we still have a living requirement for all first-year students. It's intended to be a residential campus residential experience. Our website has the only exceptions to that. So we do have a small number of people who are able to commute to live in the local area. And then we also have a petition for release process for people who have medical reasons that they might need to finish out or meet some of our other policies that we have in place in terms of military service over the age of 20. Those types of things. So, there's more detail on our website about the policy itself. If you are petitioning for a medical release, that information is reviewed by our Disability Support Resource Center, not by my office specifically because they have the expertise.

Tobias Guzmán (00:09:07):
I also saw a question regarding the single rooms. And Leah, this might be a one to also add to the question list, but I think folks were asking about the ability to get a single room. And absolutely, I think I saw a question in there that we were planning to do everyone having single rooms. And actually, what we were planning to do was just follow the state guidelines.

Tobias Guzmán (00:09:37):
And so once those came out, I think it was maybe two weeks ago, we immediately started to reconfigure how we were going to house everyone in doubles. And make sure that we had enough inventory if you will of rooms and spaces. But we did reserve one residence hall specifically for singles so that you can guarantee that you can be by yourself. And then in that letter that you received or that email that you received, it tells you what to do in order to solidify that single and also complete a single room agreement.

Leah Schultz (00:10:26):
Thank you. So we do have a couple of questions about that 30 minute time period that students do have to move in. So once they've moved all of their stuff from the car into the room at that point, are parents and support people are allowed to stay in the room to help them? If they aren't able to get everything in at once when would be the next time they would have to move or do they need to request a new move-in time? And then if the move-in time does not work, how do we either reschedule it, or make sure all of my students at the same time, or if one family has multiple students.

Jenna Finley (00:11:10):
I'll start with the last piece first and work my way backwards through that question. So in the letter just below where the date and time were assigned, there is a link to email your neighborhood director, and that if you need to change. Now, obviously, we're trying to minimize the number of people that we change just as you can imagine the logistics of scheduling over 2000 people moving in half is significant. So if we can minimize the changes, we would appreciate that. But we do have the ability to work with you and make the change.

Jenna Finley (00:11:54):
I've spoken with several out of state families and know there a lot of our parents and students have already booked air flights and those types of things. So we will work with you. So please just go back to your letter and look at the link for the email that you need to email for that change.

Jenna Finley (00:12:15):
In terms of multiple trips to campus, we really highly encourage you to try to do your movement in one trip. I think a lot of students will go back if they live within a couple hours of campus, may decide to come home, and come back on moving day. And that's perfectly what would have been our traditional start of the semester. And that's okay. And some students also bring, do things like reserve a time in September October to bring all their winter fall clothes up just few watch the space that they are taking up.

Jenna Finley (00:12:54):
But I do think it's important to be mindful of what you're bringing given the move at check-in time as well. We are going to be encouraging families to drop their students off and not spend a lot of time helping their students unpack. Again, because of social distancing and managing the number of people we have in hallways, elevators, those types of things. We are going to be encouraging family members to help their students move in and then depart from there.

Jenna Finley (00:13:31):
A common question is will I be moving in at the same time as my roommate, so we can meet their family and do that type of getting to know you and that is not possible this year. As you can imagine in student rooms, a lot of our spaces, we have enough space to keep six feet of distance between the roommates. But once we start adding families into that mix, it would become very very difficult. So, we are moving roommates in one at a time.

Tobias Guzmán (00:14:02):
I think to give a visual of a building and in a normal move in, a building may house let's say 350 students. On average, a student will bring four or five family members or someone with them to move in. Plus we have individuals that help students move in and families move in. So a building that houses 350 students, we could probably have 700 to 800 to 900 students in a building. And so obviously, in this era of pandemic, we want to really reduce and limit that.

Tobias Guzmán (00:14:49):
I give you that why to understand what we're trying to do. Believe me, we would really appreciate having as many people in the building, it provides this ambiance of move-in and it's a very cherished moment. But at the same time with the pandemic, we really have to be mindful of how many people are in a building.

Leah Schultz (00:15:15):
Thank you. And we do have one clarification question. Are the beds twin or twin extra long?

Jenna Finley (00:15:26):
The beds are twin. We recommend buying twin sheets for the bed. If you are very tall, we do have a way to reserve the extra-long mattresses. We have a very limited number. And my memory is that you have to be at least 6'2 to request the extra-long twin mattress. And you would do that by emailing housing at unco.edu.

Leah Schultz (00:15:59):
Thank you. So a little bit more about moving. We have some questions about staying on campus once you have moved in. Will dining contracts be active pretty much right after a student moves in? Is the student expected to stay on campus once they've moved all of their things in? I'll just leave it at that those two for now.

Jenna Finley (00:16:28):
The dining contract is not active as of the 14th of August. It's active a week later, the Thursday the 20th. So, we will have dining available during that time. The price will either be the cash price at the door for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or three meals a day for $25 a day. We've also suggested we know that our Bear pantry which is our food pantry on campus, also has food and some donated meal swipes that are available for students that are going to may have a hard time affording food during that time period.

Jenna Finley (00:17:11):
Students can also choose to return home so they can move in. We will have some activity during that time and some self-guided suggestions in terms of what to do to get to know Greeley and the surrounding areas as well as on campus. So it's going to be up to you if you live close enough to campus that you want to come in, drop your things and then go back home, that's fine. Or you can come and there will be some structure but not a great deal. It'll just be a time to kind of relax, get unpacked and settled during that week and there'll be a few activities and things for you to be able to do.

Tobias Guzmán (00:17:52):
We also encourage you to potentially use the kitchens within the community of your residence hall facility. If you want to buy your own food and store that in your room, you're more than welcome to do that as well. So there's at least three, four different options in order to prior to the actual meal plan starting.

Leah Schultz (00:18:22):
So, going along with that moving date and the dining plan starting, we have a few questions about the marching band. Moving doesn't start until the 14th and yet marching band will be starting on the 15th. And then if dining halls aren't open until the 22nd, how will the students eat or will they have to make alternative arrangements or just band camp make the arrangements for them?

Jenna Finley (00:18:49):
Band camp athletics, for example, football also arrives early. We have quite a few organizations that will move in before the 14th. We don't have all those list yet from the various groups, so if you know you are a football player or a band member or someone that is in the Sugar Bears or whatever it might be there, you probably have heard a little bit from the leader or the coach that you will be arriving early. They make those arrangements with us. And so you'll follow that move-in date and time. And those organizations also do arrange for meals. So again, dining is open. It's just the meal plans don't start that are part of the academic year until that Thursday the 20th.

Leah Schultz (00:19:46):
There's also a couple of questions about how high the beds can be lofted and if they can bring lifts for them as well.

Jenna Finley (00:20:01):
I'm searching my memory. I just did edits to the handbook, and I'm trying to remember the answer to that question. We don't allow lofts. So there is a standard bed frame, and they can be adjusted. I don't know the actual off the top of my head. I'll look for this question in the chat, and I'll get specific answer in terms of the clearance.

Jenna Finley (00:20:28):
But there are three different settings on the bed depending on... they can go tall enough so that our two-door dressers that we have in some of our residence halls will fit under them, which helps with some space. Lifts, I don't think lifts are allowed either if I'm remembering correctly. We feel like all of those are safety risks. So we just assume you use our beds and you can choose to either bunk them or change the setting in terms of how high or low they are.

Leah Schultz (00:21:06):
Thank you.

Jenna Finley (00:21:07):
We provide the mallets and the pins and things that are necessary for bunking.

Leah Schultz (00:21:14):
I have one question here that students are asking can we speak to you UNC's mask policy? Some people have felt that the policy isn't as straightforward. So could we give a clear definitive what is our policy on masks on campus?

Jenna Finley (00:21:34):
If you're outside of your residence hall room you are going to be needing to wear a mask with the obvious exception of if you're eating. So, we will be allowing for some amount of dine-in in terms of eating in the residence hall, similar to what you're seeing in restaurants you can remove your mask to eat. But you need to put it on when you're going through the lines, entering, exiting the building, those types of things. I think the one policy that's still under some review is what we're doing in the Campus Recreation Center, given masks because the guidance has been a little bit mixed, so that piece is yet to come. But generally on campus, you're going to be expected to wear a mask.

Tobias Guzmán (00:22:23):
It's also important to know that classrooms and your faculty members and administrators will also be wearing masks. So we want to make it very clear that the research shows and the data show that it is important to wear the mask and so we are going to enforce that. We'll start with educating the why and why that mask is important. So parents and students, Jenna talks about bringing a wardrobe of masks. That is absolutely what should be done. And knowing that we also will have a small amount of masks on campus in the event that someone forgets their mask or it drops. You just never know. We want to make sure that faculty staff and students do have access to getting a mask while they're on campus.

Leah Schultz (00:23:27):
Thank you. And then you talked a little bit about the campus rec centers. So will certain resources like the campus rec center, like massage therapy or some other fitness classes that we offer, are they going to be prohibited or limited for the fall?

Jenna Finley (00:23:48):
I think in terms of classes, intramural club sports, they're still working out the details. The goal is to still offer something and offer things within the guidance. And knowing that some of those guidelines can and probably will change between now and the beginning of the year. We know that massage therapy, for example, right now is something that's being offered in our community as long as both the massage therapist and the person receiving the massage both wear a mask. If that guidance were to change from the health department, then our policy and what we are delivering will change.

Jenna Finley (00:24:28):
But right now the plan is to offer those types of services and to offer some fitness classes in a way that it's safe and spread out. So the classes are likely to be smaller than what they've been in the past. And there's still some decisions being made about things like do we allow someone a spotter when someone lifts weights and some of those decisions. So, it is still being worked through within consultation with the health department and the CDC guidelines.

Leah Schultz (00:25:07):
And talking about more in-person and things being open for Mark, are there still going to be in-person classes or a mix of virtual and in-person?

Mark Anderson (00:25:27):
So we are just completing the fall's schedule. And we're going to have a mix of classes which are entirely face to face, classes which are mixed hybrid, where a portion of the class meets face to face, a portion is virtual, and then fully online courses. We had to rearrange our fall schedule to meet the public safety standards and part of the public safety standards is six feet of separation. And so many of our classrooms, the capacity of the room, decreased quite a bit as we are spacing out desks by six feet.

Mark Anderson (00:26:03):
So our faculty have been working diligently to identify the best way to deliver the course content, interact with students and meet the learning objectives of the course. And so about 50% of our courses are going have some face to face component, whether it be a hybrid format, where some of its face to face, some of its online, or entirely face to face. And so, given that our classroom capacity, the change in the capacity was quite a bit more than that, we feel pretty good about our fault schedule. We're finalizing the internal details, we're going to have a communication out to all students towards the middle of this week.

Leah Schultz (00:26:55):
Thank you, and is UNC considering going online after Thanksgiving break like other institutions have announced and what would happen if a student does not feel comfortable coming back to campus after that break?

Mark Anderson (00:27:10):
Our plan is to have the complete academic calendar. Our complete calendars are classes start, I believe, on August 24th. And we continue up until Thanksgiving break and then we come back after Thanksgiving for about two and a half weeks, which is about a week of instruction, a week of examinations and then the commencement exercise for the fall. We have no expectations that we will change that. We are obviously continuing to monitor the public health situation, and we will adapt and adopt as the public health concerns evolve.

Mark Anderson (00:27:57):
But the trajectory of coronavirus in the State of Colorado currently suggests that we should be able to have a complete fall semester without interruption. And students who are uncomfortable coming back, we hope that over the course of the first two-thirds of the semester that you will see that we are doing everything to protect the health and safety of our community. And so we don't anticipate that people will feel uncomfortable given all the precautions that we're taking to assure that you will be healthy and safe in our environment.

Leah Schultz (00:28:39):
Thank you. Do we also have an idea of how many students would be in each course?

Mark Anderson (00:28:47):
The capacities haven't changed much. We started registering for the fall semester way back in April for students who are returning to campus. At that time, we didn't really understand the coronavirus and its long term implications. And so we had a schedule set and we have people registering and we're trying to adjust the schedule without disrupting the students as much as possible. And so the capacities in any individual classes haven't changed. What's changed is how we're thinking about delivering the material to those enrolled. So we have classes that range anywhere from less than 10 students, all the way up to about 100, 120 students. So those capacities haven't changed.

Leah Schultz (00:29:44):
And we also have a question about if there are any classes that might not be offered that normally would.

Mark Anderson (00:29:55):
That's a great question and I don't have a great answer for that. I know that particularly in the School of Music, many of those types of courses involve singing or playing of instruments and the professional organizations have established standards for those types of classes. And particularly large ensembles of singers or players in enclosed classroom setting is very difficult to accomplish in a socially distance environment.

Mark Anderson (00:30:37):
And so one of the things those courses are looking at or those programs are looking at is just rearranging the curriculum. So those large group activities are moved to the spring semester. In that sense, we might be changing the schedule in that some courses which might normally be taught in the fall, will be taught in the spring. Likewise, courses which might normally be taught in the spring will be taught in the fall.

Mark Anderson (00:31:08):
But we are not at the moment anticipating canceling any classes which had been scheduled. We are looking at enrollment as we always do. And courses which have low enrollment, we're looking at those potentially to either boost the enrollment through marketing campaigns or canceling.

Leah Schultz (00:31:34):
Thank you. So just switch back a little bit to the topic of housing. Once again, Jenna, if you could explain a little bit about the incorrect room assignments that had been emailed out for some students that may have missed that at the beginning.

Jenna Finley (00:31:52):
Sure. So an email went out today with room assignment and move-in day and time. The move-in date and time are correct, the room number is what pulled from the wrong column in a spreadsheet that is connected to the email. So we apologize for that. The easiest thing to do is to log back into our housing portal if you would like to confirm your room assignment room number. But we did not make any changes from the time that you went in and assigned yourself.

Leah Schultz (00:32:31):
And then the students moving in from out of state will they be required to take a COVID test or quarantine?

Jenna Finley (00:32:41):
We are discussing right now if you're coming in from a state that has a high number of cases, I know in the news currently it's Arizona, Florida, places like that. And we also know that that changes on a week to week or month to month basis. But we're evaluating if we need to ask for any kind of self-quarantine before you come or once you arrive. So, stay tuned on that, we'll be providing the information.

Jenna Finley (00:33:18):
But right now we are not anticipating. We did not build in any kind of self-isolation at the beginning of the semester. We do have isolation rooms for people that are sick either that they've been confirmed having COVID or if they are symptomatic and awaiting test results. So, we have room to set aside so students can have their own bedroom, bathroom, and we'll deliver meals for those students.

Tobias Guzmán (00:33:49):
We also want to stress and emphasize self-responsibility. There is we trust our students. The moment meant that we start the day off by not trusting is not a good way to lead a university. So we really want students to do their research as well of how to stay healthy, to also ask questions. We do have a health center that is on campus and that is at your disposal.

Tobias Guzmán (00:34:26):
But we really, really want to emphasize self-responsibility and how important that is to make sure that why you're wearing a mask or potentially you're self-quarantined because you know that you were potentially exposed or coming from a state with high numbers. And anytime a student has questions or needs guidance, obviously the staff and in housing and residence and dining are always there to be able to help answer some of those questions.

Jenna Finley (00:35:04):
I realized I didn't answer a part of your question, Leah, and that was about the testing. We will not be administering tests to everyone upon arrival. I know that's a common question. There is testing, however available at our student health center. And we've been very fortunate with a number of tests that are available. And that we encourage students to feel like they've been exposed to go ahead and get a test taken. We also have increased our capacity to help the health department with contact tracing and those types of things and we'll probably be asking students to regularly monitor their symptoms.

Jenna Finley (00:35:50):
So, I think a lot of places in the country, people are being asked before they go to work every day, do I have a temperature? And actually take their temperature. And some of the other symptoms just to keep track of that piece. We recommend for that reason that students do think about packing a thermometer and some of those just basic health supplies, which aren't necessarily always on our move-in guide in terms of what to think about to bring. But along with their wardrobe of mask, a thermometer is a great thing to bring with you.

Leah Schultz (00:36:29):
Thank you, Jenna. We have some questions about students wanting to change their rooms and it looks like a couple of them are encountering errors, how should they go about this?

Jenna Finley (00:36:46):
If you are getting an error, email housing at unco.edu so we can try to trace back why. Right now you should be still able to go in to our contract and change your housing assignment. You will not be able to go in and assign yourself to Wilson Hall into a single and that is because we had this building held out of our occupancy. So that's why there is a different kind of instruction in the letter you received today.

Leah Schultz (00:37:18):
And then there's also a question about a student who was looking into assigning themselves to a room and only north and south are available. Is there any other options that they can do or do we just recommend they keep looking back?

Jenna Finley (00:37:36):
Things change almost daily as once students reassign themselves or for some are returning students right now are still deciding whether or not they're going to live on or off-campus and have a room held for themselves on campus. So, things change. So, it's recommended you go back in and look.

Jenna Finley (00:37:58):
If you are interested again in Wilson, which is a tier 1 residence hall, but there is a charge of $525 a semester for a single, that's another option. And as you can imagine as students do assign themselves to singles, there's going to be some spaces opening up that they're vacating. So there's still possibilities of moving at this point in time. Once we get past July 1, you'll need to email the housing office, and we'll have to do that for you versus you being able to go in and check yourself.

Leah Schultz (00:38:39):
Thank you. And then there was... I'm switching over to dining a little bit. Students are asking about whether they can eat in the dining halls or if everything has to be taken to go. Is it going to be like a restaurant where you come in with a mask and then can you take it off?

Jenna Finley (00:39:04):
You will be expected to enter the building with a mask. Based on the square footage of the dining room, we can have about 100 students in each of our dining rooms at a time. So seating will be available but a little bit more limited. We'll have a reservation system available to students if they know exactly when they are wanting to eat in and want to be sure they have a space, there'll be a way to do that.

Jenna Finley (00:39:34):
We're also expanding some of our outdoor dining options. Typically, before we get to the colder weather, we want to have some flexibility which we haven't had in the past, but also taking things to go is going to be an option for students. There isn't going to be any kind of buffet or self-service. Everything is going to be served to you or taken to go.

Jenna Finley (00:40:05):
And we also because we have that limit on how many people can be in the dining room at a time, expanding some of our locations where you can take things to go or grab things. So we have a more continuous availability of food that's on the meal plan. I just lost my train of thought, there was another piece to that. There'll even be some frozen meals and that kind of thing for people to be able to pick up and students can pick up more than one meal at a time just to make things as flexible as we can this fall.

Leah Schultz (00:40:41):
Thank you. Can we get one more clarification of the day the dining halls are going to open?

Jenna Finley (00:40:57):
It is Thursday, August 20th. And dinner... sorry, Tobias.

Tobias Guzmán (00:41:08):
No, it's good, go ahead.

Jenna Finley (00:41:09):
Dinner is the first meal served that day on the meal plan.

Tobias Guzmán (00:41:15):
And that's the clarification I wanted to offer is that the meal plan and everyone that is moving in prior to that date, again, has the opportunity to buy additional meals, purchase their own meals off campus, go to the grocery store and bring food back to their room. But dining is still available prior to the date Jenna mentioned as well.

Leah Schultz (00:41:51):
Thank you. I have a question here about should we let the university know if a student has had COVID-19?

Jenna Finley (00:42:02):
That is not data that we're collecting at this time. We do also have antibody testing available at the health center where there is a cost associated with that. But that is another service that we're fortunate to have right on campus.

Tobias Guzmán (00:42:23):
I think the only time we would want to know is if it delays your move-in or it's probably if you're exposed to it. And not necessarily actually having it yourself but exposed to the virus, we'd like to probably talk with you along with the health center to see what the best course of action is. And that is obviously moving in as well as being here on campus. So let's say you live in Denver and you have the opportunity to go home and you find out that a family member has COVID and you were exposed to that. Coming back to campus, we would probably like to give you a little bit more guidance on what that looks like so that we don't have continuous exposure.

Leah Schultz (00:43:27):
Thanks. And then if a roommate or a suitemate were to test positive for COVID, do the roommates and suitemates need to quarantine, and are they allowed to quarantine at home?

Jenna Finley (00:43:45):
Yes, they will be asked to quarantine and monitor their symptoms. The individual that's sick is typically the individual that goes to the isolation room and the rest of the roommates or suitemates remain in the suite and just monitor their symptoms and stay socially distant from one another. That's the current guidelines we have from the health department.

Jenna Finley (00:44:11):
Anytime we have someone that's symptomatic or has been tested for COVID, we had a couple of people that underwent the testing and then came back negative in the spring. But that's the guidance that we receive. And so every time there's a case, we check in with that authority, and have some good communication going back and forth in terms of what they would like us to do at the time.

Jenna Finley (00:44:36):
Students can choose to go home to be in isolation, that is an option. I think some of the guidance and the caution is that you're bringing that exposure then back to a different community. And making sure you're actually healthy enough to thrive is the other, I think, piece to that. But we aren't going to be restricting travel. I think it's a good idea to let a staff member, an IRA or a community coordinator know just so we know that you have gone home, especially if we know that you're sick. But that is going to be up to you.

Leah Schultz (00:45:20):
And then we have a couple more clarification questions about suites, and if they are single rooms or if there will be roommates. So do we have two or four students to a suite?

Jenna Finley (00:45:36):
All of our assignments are just as they always are in terms of occupancy of the space. So, some of our suites have single bedrooms within them and some of them have doubles. So north and south is a good example of where there are some single bedrooms and double bedrooms within a suite. You can log into your housing portal to see your assignment, see who's assigned.

Jenna Finley (00:46:05):
At this point, you might be in a double and not have a roommate yet. It is typical for us to still to continue to receive new contracts all the way up through the first few days of class. So even though if you are in a double that currently doesn't have a roommate, you still might get one. That's important to know.

Leah Schultz (00:46:32):
We have a question about is the LEAD on program will still be happening.

Jenna Finley (00:46:39):
The LEAD on program is still happening. And right now we are making some adjustments to how that is delivered through the classroom experiences, it's likely to be a little bit of a hybrid. And so we can have smaller groups together. I think some of the content, the in-person content will be delivered over a three-day schedule. And then some of it will also be in virtual communities. So we do intend to still have the program. It will look and feel a little bit different, but it's still a great leadership development opportunity.

Leah Schultz (00:47:21):
Thank you. Let's talk a little bit more about move-in, if we can do a few more clarification questions on that. If a student hasn't moved in time before their roommate, are they required to leave the room when their roommate moves in?

Jenna Finley (00:47:45):
I think if it's just the roommate moving in, no, if the roommates coming with family, we would recommend giving some space just because there is not enough space in a lot of our rooms to accommodate for, let's say, four people and keep some social distance between. And I think it's important to note that once we get past move-in, we will not have guests in residence hall rooms for this reason. It'll just be the students that have key to that room that have access to that room, which is I think, will be a little bit difficult for some students. But we just know that there's not quite enough space to have large numbers of people, not even large numbers of people, groups of three, four, five students in a lot of our residence hall spaces.

Tobias Guzmán (00:48:44):
We also know that that is a little bit of a challenge. I grew up as a first-generation student as well as growing up in a single-parent household, and I just remember when I was moving in how difficult of a time that was in those first six weeks, homesickness sets in. And it becomes very difficult. And ultimately, we want you to be able to focus on your academics and getting through those first six weeks.

Tobias Guzmán (00:49:21):
First of all, the staff are very trained, and they understand that these are the kinds of things students deal with them in their first six weeks. But secondly, we want to make sure too that you understand the resources that are in the City of Greeley, the parks, the recreation opportunities, the different restaurants. So meeting up with family might have to look a little bit different than your room, your residence hall room. But other spaces, whether it's in our beautiful campus green spaces, or our parks that we have here in Greeley or the different eateries around town can be good spaces to meet with your family or support people.

Leah Schultz (00:50:08):
Thank you. And then there's also a question as well. Some students are going to wait until they see their room to get extra storage bins, can they go to Target and come back? Or is that something they should bring back when they come permanently to stay?

Jenna Finley (00:50:30):
Once students are assigned to that room, they can come and go. So, you can go into a store and I think what will again emphasize is the personal responsibility. So when you're out and about in the community to wear a mask, be mindful of how close you are to other people. But yes, you'll be able to leave and go out and get what you need at the store and bring it back to your room. Or you can choose to do that.

Jenna Finley (00:50:56):
If you are expecting to go home bring another car load up and be moving, kind of making multiple trips and it's more than just you doing that then I think is what we need to talk to the hall staff. And just seek some understanding on when it's going to be not a busy time for other people moving in. We're trying to keep our stairwells, elevators, hallways as quiet and low occupancy as possible, so we can really maintain as much distance between people as we can.

Leah Schultz (00:51:40):
And just a little bit about the being some activities on campus for students who want to say if they've moved in on the 14th. Do we have any idea of what that timeline looks like? Even how many events there will be?

Jenna Finley (00:51:59):
For the time up until the 20th, I don't have that schedule yet. So that will be something that is sent to you probably in early August. We have some graduate assistants that are working on that and their contract hasn't quite started yet. So more to come on that period of time. The period of time I think it is important to know about is the extended orientation Bear welcome period of time, which starts Thursday, the 20th and runs to the start of class, Monday morning.

Jenna Finley (00:52:31):
That is a structured time that we want you to participate in. Some of the same students who participate in orientation with you'll be in a group again together. So the residence hall staff takes over a group that the orientation leaders have led. There'll be some interaction even with the orientation leader during that time.

Jenna Finley (00:52:54):
And we do a mix of community building, helping the community to get to know a small group of people. As well as talking about some of the skills you need to have a successful start for the year, everything from developing your roommate contract and how to maybe navigate conflict with that roommate if you have it to other types of skills that are helpful for you.

Jenna Finley (00:53:20):
And also there'll be some college welcomes and other things that happen. So, that four day period will be very busy and structured and lots of opportunity to get to know other people even if we still anticipated social distancing in place. And some of that small group time we'll be we're planning for both small group in-person just being spread out. And also if we need to be doing also doing some virtual types of Zoom meetings as well with students. So, there'll be a variety of types of opportunities and that is available to students that live on campus or off campus. So a lot of the students you meet during orientation you'll get to continue to see.

Leah Schultz (00:54:12):
Thank you. With the dining halls not opening until August 20th, will the community kitchens be open in the residence halls for students to be able to use and will there be any cookware provided?

Jenna Finley (00:54:34):
Yes, the community kitchens will be open. We are still determining what we can safely provide. Typically, we would be checking out a lot of items to the front desk. This year we're likely to limit that pretty significantly. So it's a good idea to bring a couple of basics with you to campus. We always say a set of silverware, a plate, a cup, maybe a pot, cookie sheet if you like to bake things because we have those types of facilities available.

Jenna Finley (00:55:07):
We also would really encourage you to bring some of your own cleaning supplies. Because as you're going to use community space, that's a high touch area like a community kitchen, it's probably a good idea just to wipe those spaces down before and after use just so we can keep our community as clean as possible. We of course have custodial staff that do some cleaning, but it can't be as frequent as a custodian coming in and after every use. So we really encourage you to bring some of your own supplies for that reason just to keep these spaces open and available.

Leah Schultz (00:55:49):
Thank you. Will things like hand sanitizer be provided to students?

Jenna Finley (00:55:57):
Hand sanitizer stations will be in building entrances and some other high frequent areas, but we won't be placing in every student room or giving you a bottle to carry around. So it's a really, again, a good thing to think about bringing your own supply as well. So you have it with you. Nevermind, but yes, please bring some of your own but yes, we're also providing it well in busy areas.

Leah Schultz (00:56:36):
Thank you. I know we are at six o'clock. Are we all okay to stay on a little bit longer and answer a few more questions?

Jenna Finley (00:56:47):
Sure.

Tobias Guzmán (00:56:47):
Sure.

Leah Schultz (00:56:49):
Great. Thank you. So, we have a couple questions about, again, roommates having only a 30 minute or each roommates is every 30 minutes. Is that for all roommates and can they change it to be either at the same time or another day?

Jenna Finley (00:57:10):
The roommates are not necessarily spaced out 30 minutes apart. It may end up that way for some people but it generally we are moving in by zone. And it's carefully mapped out based on where the entrance, exit elevators. In every community it's a little bit different for that. So we tried to keep as few people moving in to a specific area of a building as possible. You cannot move in at the same time as your roommate again, for those reasons that we've talked about in terms of just the number of people in a student room.

Jenna Finley (00:57:52):
I think the only exception that I've made with that with some families that I've talked about that have siblings, for example, that are from the same household, we are accommodating that request and allowing family that are moving into the same room and sharing a room move in together. So if you're in that situation, please contact our office and we'll work with you. But otherwise, we are not moving in roommates at the same time.

Leah Schultz (00:58:20):
And then we also have other questions about getting the dimensions of the room or the layout of the room the student is living in, is there a way that they can get that information?

Jenna Finley (00:58:34):
There are layouts available on the website. It'll give you a basic idea. One of the very unique things about UNC is that our spaces are very different sometimes in the same building from room to room. So for example, if you're in Presidents Row or one of our buildings that are very historic, there really isn't necessarily a standard room size. So it's difficult to give each individual student their exact dimensions of their room. But you can get a general idea through those floor plans that are available on the website.

Leah Schultz (00:59:21):
And then we also have some questions about students bringing in refrigerators and microwaves. Is there a size limit and if they do rent the ones that the university provides, will they be able to get that the day they move in?

Jenna Finley (00:59:38):
If you rent a micro fridge from us, those are in your room upon arrival, so yes, those are available. The size, there's a wattage for both microwaves and refrigerators. We have a move-in guide that's virtual. I think it was linked from a letter that went out today. And you can get that specific wattage. I want to say that a microwave is 750 watts. But that's one of those facts I'm not sure I have off the top of my head. So it's best to consult our move-in guide and really have a good understanding what you can and can't bring are some things like open coil cooking things, George Foreman Grills, things that are more of a fire hazard that aren't allowed.

Tobias Guzmán (01:00:36):
Bryson just provided in the chat links to the floor plans as well as the what to bring what not to bring. And then also in the email that you did get today, there is a section called view a list of what to bring or not. So, all those details should answer some of those questions as well.

Leah Schultz (01:01:09):
Thank you. And we also have a couple of questions about shipping items to campus. Maybe a student doesn't have time to bring everything. Can they ship them, receive packages from Amazon? How is this best practiced?

Jenna Finley (01:01:27):
Yes, they will be able to receive packages after they've moved in. I don't recommend necessarily shipping them prior to arrival. But your neighborhood has a front desk and packages are received at that front desk and logged and that's where you can pick them up. You'll also have a mailbox for letter type mail assigned to you but yes, packages are received at your neighborhood desk.

Leah Schultz (01:02:01):
And then, just one more question about the residence halls, are students allowed to have guests in the residence halls?

Jenna Finley (01:02:13):
We are still finalizing our guests policy. The piece that I know is that we will not be allowing guests in the student rooms. The piece that we're still making some decisions on is can we have guests in public areas, observing capacities for those public areas. We're currently going through all of our lounges and study spaces and determining how many people can safely be in a space and maintain social distancing.

Jenna Finley (01:02:44):
So, I'm anticipating guests to be allowed in those spaces if following those guidelines. But we're doing some review with the health department on some of that. And so that will be those types of guidelines we published in the Housing and Residential Education Handbook that has all of our policies, and that will be available as of August 1st.

Leah Schultz (01:03:13):
Thank you. And then I have a question here for Mark, if a student is not wearing a mask in class, is the professor allowed to ask them to leave?

Mark Anderson (01:03:28):
The professor would be allowed to ask them to leave. We're going to have some masks available. But I think Dr. Guzmán earlier talked about the community responsibility to each other. And so very much like sort of just getting used to wearing the mask in general, we understand that there will be some adjustment period to our campus community. And as Dr. Finley indicated earlier, outside of your individual room, we expect you to be wearing a mask. And that goes for the faculty and staff as well.

Mark Anderson (01:04:03):
And so it is not unreasonable to think that you might forget your mask and so we will have some available to for loan. So you won't have to leave the class. You'll have to be given a mask to wear. But after a couple of weeks, the expectation is that the forgetting of a mask will become less and less frequent. And if it becomes a habit, then you are likely to be asked to leave a class if you don't have a mask, yes.

Tobias Guzmán (01:04:36):
Just to clarify, you don't have to give the mask back to us. So we won't want it back.

Mark Anderson (01:04:41):
We don't want it back.

Leah Schultz (01:04:42):
Thank you. And again, just one more question about the masks. How will the policy be clearly communicated? And how are we going to enforce it?

Mark Anderson (01:05:06):
I think the clear communication part, so it's going to be part of the syllabus statement. So every class that you have, it will be clearly communicated what the community expectations are. I think the enforcement if you will, or will be really just the community expectations. And we're not going to be heavy handed about it because we anticipate that as everybody adjust to this reality of our campus community that it will just become part of the everyday behavior that you participate in. Tobias, I interrupted you, I apologize.

Tobias Guzmán (01:05:53):
No, perfect, Mark. I would say that we talked even today about the multi-layered layer channels of communication and how critical and important that is. And as Dr. Anderson mentioned, the heavy handedness is not our UNC style and approach. However, we are not naive to the fact that there are some folks who are very adamant about not wearing a mask. As a state institution, we really do need to honor what our state is doing and the behaviors of our state and how good we have been in terms of this pandemic.

Tobias Guzmán (01:06:38):
And so, we do have the ability to enforce mask wearing, but again, the multi-layer channels of communication, tiered approach of communication is key in all of this. So everything from syllabus statements to newsletters to the communication that you will receive from housing, dining, campus signage. And the best advertisement of them all is that you will see students, faculty, administrators and staff wearing masks and social distancing.

Mark Anderson (01:07:15):
And then the other part that's really very important is we're an institution of higher education. And so it's not about anything more than helping each other to understand and learn about the reasons. I believe Dr. Guzmán early on said that one of the most effective ways of preventing transmission of coronavirus is by wearing of a mask. And the wearing of the mask is really to protect and respect the other members of the community. And so we want to use this not just as a community standard, but also to help educate each other about the reasons but also the responsibility that we have to each other.

Jenna Finley (01:08:05):
I think as students start in that extended orientation period that I spoke about earlier, we're going to be planning to provide some health information and just basic teaching. Because I think when we think about cleaning our homes I know my children at 18 probably didn't know the difference between disinfecting something and simply cleaning it by wiping it down. So, in knowing and understanding some of these practices, it's going to be really important to the success of us in keeping the campus healthy.

Jenna Finley (01:08:47):
So understanding why it's important to wipe down if you have a suite and have a bathroom ideally after each use but at least once a day disinfect that bathroom. And cleaning high touch shared items like remote controls, televisions or gaming controls, I mean, all those things that are a good idea.

Jenna Finley (01:09:08):
So talking to your student or parents before they come about some of those things, laundry and all those other things that we kind of make sure students are prepared to do once they're with us. But it's a good idea to visit some of these things in depth before they arrive. We'll be reviewing that with them. But I think having a little bit of knowledge and understanding, it would be helpful.

Leah Schultz (01:09:43):
Thank you. I just want to say thank you to all of our panelists who are here today, Tobias, Jenna and Mark. We want to be respectful of everybody's time. I know there are still some questions unanswered in the Q&A box, but we will make sure that we get those answered either with a direct email to you or we will also be sending out an email with a link to the recording for this session as well. So you can find some of the answers in that email as well. Tobias, would you like to say some words?

Tobias Guzmán (01:10:19):
Sure. Thank you, Leah. Appreciate that. And Dr. Anderson, Dr. Finley, thank you as colleagues, we've been doing these sessions since probably early June, and maybe even before that, and consecutively. And as time has gone, answers and our responses have changed. And the reason why is because obviously our world is constantly in change. So I want to thank you for your participation again this evening, as well as just really stress to you that if you have any questions, let us know, give us a call. Bryson will have at the end our emails as well. Directly email us, we are a very friendly campus.

Tobias Guzmán (01:11:12):
So it's important to get your answers. There's no need to have a lot of anxiety before you move in. In fact, we try to reduce that as much as we can for you. So please let us know if there's anything else. And we're really glad that you joined us this evening. Have a good rest of your summer. Happy Fourth of July coming up this weekend. And we'll see you soon.

Leah Schultz (01:11:40):
Thank you all again. We will be having one final open house. It will be held in the next couple of weeks, and we will send out an email invitation and the link to you as well to make sure that you are aware of that. So, that you can join and get all of our final final answers for what the fall semester will look like.

Leah Schultz (01:11:59):
Again, if you have questions about changing you move-in date, there is an email that you can email to in that email that you received about your move-in. So if you have questions about changing it, feel free to send an email. We want to say again, thank you all for joining us. We hope to see you in the next couple of weeks for our final virtual open house. Have a good night.