LANSING, Mich. (WSYM) — Even though Michigan State University has moved all classes online, at least through the fall semester, some students are still living in the dorms. Although the number of move-ins is far less than usual, the task this year is actually more complex because of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Janelle James is a resident assistant at MSU’s Case Hall. This year her floor is looking pretty empty; With one person to a suite, she oversees about half the normal amount of students.
“The carts that students use to move in, those are sanitized after every use and they also put a garbage bag inside of it so that it just limits the spread of germs and stuff like that,” James said.
There are eight residence halls open right now - housing less than two thousand students. MSU says another 1,200 are living in on-campus apartments.
Kat Cooper, a university representative, said, “The students who need to be on campus this semester have some reason that they need to be here. Either MSU is their home or they don’t have internet connection at home or there’s a financial reason they can’t live at home. So, we really wanted to make this as safe as possible for this few number of students that need to be here this semester.
Lukasz Morales is one of those students who decided not to stay home this semester. He’ll be a junior this year.
Morales said, “I feel like it would be a better environment to live in because back home it’s not as good of an environment as it would be here. That’s why I chose to live on campus.”
Cooper said of the students that will be living on campus this semester, “We’re glad to just see a few of their smiling faces. Under the mask of course.”
