ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. (WUTR-TV) —Traditionally, first year SUNY Poly students would all move in on one day but due to COVID-19, it was spread out over 4 days. Students had to schedule a time slot and only 16 families can move in per hour. Students are limited to two people helping them with the move and everyone is pre-screened for the virus. The college has also limited the amount of people allowed on campus.
“We have 600 students that will be residing on campus. This particular building which is our new net zero carbon building and it just opened, Hilltop Hall. This will be filled with 250 first year students and our RA’s. Our other complexes have decreased density at a point of 50% or so.” – Marybeth Lyons, Vice President for Students Affairs, SUNY Poly
Students were able to decide whether or not they wanted to reside on campus or perform classes online. There are no visitors allowed in any of the dorms and they must abide by the college’s guidelines at all times.
“We need to wear a mask at all times, especially when we’re in our classrooms, we’re in campus, we’re moving around campus. We need to stay 6 feet apart. I know the student code of conduct was updated to reflect some of these guidelines.” – Giovanni Harvey, Student Government at Utica Interim President
In addition, all faculty, staff and students will be pre-screened for COVID-19 daily on a daily basis. They’ve also created a wellness center to treat students that test positive.
“One of the things that we’ve really done is allowed the ability for our wellness center to be able to conduct testing right here on campus. Depending on the results of the testing we can determine or not that student should remain in quarantine. We actually have a dorm that is set-up for isolation as well. So, one of our residence halls is set up to be able to handle isolation of students.” Michael Frame, Chief Operating Officer, SUNY Poly
SUNY Poly says they will continue to work closely with the county health department and convert back to online classes if necessary.
