New York University students are frustrated with the college for closing down the school’s residence halls amid coronavirus concerns — and for being asked to clear their belongings from their dormitories so they can potentially be filled with hospital beds.
“It’s difficult, especially because I live in Los Angeles. It’s a difficult situation,” Pawla Velosa, 20, a sophomore said Friday, adding that she was already in California this week and had to come back to the city after she received a school email asking students to pack up their stuff.
“I got here Tuesday morning and immediately started packing. I had to pack both my suitemates’ stuff as well because they can’t afford to come back,” Velosa said. “I had to pack for three people before Sunday.”
“It’s stressful,” she said.
Earlier this week, the college sent an email to its students asking them to clear out their dorm spaces after announcing that spring semester classes will be moved online and that student residence halls will close by Sunday.
The email stated that “there are significant indications that the state, as part of its contingency planning, is looking at university dormitories as settings for overflow beds from hospitals” as the potentially deadly virus spreads through the city.
An NYU spokesman told The Post this week that there “have been no specific requests of the University at this point, but we would want to be in a position to help if needed.”
Velosa claimed that NYU is handling the matter with “a bad attitude.”
“Pretty much their attitude is, ‘you can stay, but we’re going to give you a hard time,’” the student said.
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Senior Sara Atehortua, 22, called the situation “the worst” as she readied to drive back home to Florida with her mom Friday after moving all her stuff out from her dorm room.
“Totally unexpected, very shocking, very disorienting,” said Atehortua, who noted that she was in Florida for spring break when she was notified about moving out her belongings.
“We were told [at first] to take the things we need to go to school, so I took all my essentials,” the student said. “And then we got an email telling us we needed to come back and grab all our things, otherwise they were going to be shipped to us or held in the rooms.”
Atehortua said the matter is “difficult for a lot of people.”
“I understand why they made the decision,” she said. “A lot of students are badly affected and it’s a very serious situation.”
Freshman Shea Grant, 18, who now has to move back home to New Jersey said, “It’s horrible and really overwhelming.
“I was just really shocked because none of us thought they were going to shut down housing, even though they were shutting down the school,” Grant said. “I was kind of pissed.”
Meanwhile, Manhattan’s International House, which is affiliated with NYU and Columbia University and houses some students, announced Thursday that a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
“This individual has been recovering outside I-House safely for the past week,” International House said. “However, we are convinced that numerous residents and staff have had close contact with this affected individual in recent weeks and as such I-House is now considered an at-risk community.”
As a result, the organization is requiring all residents of I-House South to leave by Mar. 27.
“Unfortunately, there can be no exceptions,” the organization said. “In addition, given the interconnectivity between I-House South and North, we are urging residents of I-House North to leave the premises as soon as possible.”
Additional reporting by Jennifer Gould Keil
