Resident Assistants (RA), Resident Freshmen Mentors (RFM) and Orientation Leaders (OL) are preparing for students’ arrival on campus. While students from restricted states are required to quarantine off-campus for two weeks before arriving on campus, RAs, RFMs and OLs have been able to quarantine on campus. 

During the two weeks, students are unable to leave their room for any reason, including to do laundry, go to the mailroom or throw out their trash. If needed, students can place a work order and leave their trash outside of their room.

“Now that my quarantine is almost over I’m getting antsy, also because I see all my other friends on social media being outside and all,” an RA, who asked to remain anonymous, said. 

“ResLife staff has taken this quarantine super serious and all of us from the list of places that had to quarantine also had to provide a negative COVID-19 test and I would just really hope that people realize they need to take this super seriously,” the RA said.

The majority of students are unable to quarantine on campus due to New York’s requirement that each person have their own bathroom. According to Jenifer Campbell, senior director of Residential Life, there are only 12 residential staff members and three OLs quarantining on campus so they each have their own space.

“Shortly after Fordham sent that email that students couldn’t quarantine on campus the office of residential life reached out to the student staff and let us know we could quarantine on campus because we’d have the spaces to ourselves,” the same RA said. 

When the mandatory quarantine was announced, many students were concerned about the cost of staying in a hotel for two weeks. According to Campbell, RAs, RFMs and OLs did not have to pay extra to quarantine in the dorms.

“We didn’t have to pay extra to quarantine on campus, but we also had training during those two weeks that we quarantined and we technically had to be on campus during that time anyways for ResLife training,” the RA said.

RAs, RFMS and OLs were sent an email on Aug. 6 regarding quarantine instructions. All students that planned to quarantine on campus were required to receive a negative coronavirus test before arriving on campus.

Once on campus, OLs were able to receive their check-in materials from the Public Safety Office in McMahon Hall. RAs and RFMs were instructed to go immediately to their rooms where their key and check-in materials would be located in their desk.

Students were then instructed to go grocery shopping before unpacking. Students are unable to leave their rooms after they grocery shop, so they must purchase enough food for two weeks. 

For students living in McKeon, a food delivery system was put in place. According to Campbell, the meals are included in the training so students do not have to pay for them. All students are able to have food delivered if they can have a friend pick up the food and leave it outside of their door. 

“For anything else our fellow staff members have been really helpful and accommodating,” the RA said about getting more food during quarantine.

After they have quarantined for two weeks, students must schedule an appointment with University Health Services to receive a second COVID-19 test.

Campbell stated that University Health Services and Aramark have been useful “in helping to coordinate all aspects of the quarantine process. ORL (Office of Residential Life) is grateful for the partnership.”

While in quarantine, the students are completing their training through Zoom. The RA explained that all trainings were made accessible through Blackboard, although many were already on Zoom. The training posted on Zoom required students to study the information and create discussions posts or respond to possible scenarios. 

As many universities across the country begin to reopen and students return to campus, some universities have been forced to shut down due to students not taking the pandemic seriously. 

The University of Notre Dame, which originally planned to return early in order to end before Thanksgiving, had to switch to online instruction for at least two weeks due to the high volume of college parties. Additionally, schools with Greek life such as Oklahoma State University and University of Alabama have seen a return to partying. 

The RA praised Fordham for taking the quarantine seriously and hopes that Fordham students will also be responsible when they return to campus.

“This isn’t the time to party in the residence hall or have a huge reunion with your friends. I know we all missed hanging out with people but please please still social distance and don’t mess around in the residence hall because that will be a sure way for all of us to need to leave in a couple weeks again,” the RA said.