To Our Undergraduates:
In planning the spring 2021 academic calendar, we also began assessing our approach to campus housing for the upcoming semester. Just as in the fall, our top priority is maintaining the health and safety of the campus community—with particular attention to COVID-19 transmission risks. The difference this time, however, is that our considerations are informed by six weeks of experience in this semester.
After assessing multiple factors, we have determined that we can increase housing availability while still maintaining our fall protocol of keeping each residential student in a single room. This approach still means that a significant portion of students may not be able to live in campus housing, but their numbers will be fewer than in the fall.
When we announced housing eligibility categories in August, we did not specify plans for the spring. Given that context and our larger housing capacity next semester, we will give students now living on campus the option to remain in university housing during the spring. To maintain that eligibility, these students must indicate their preferences via CampusGroups no later than 8 p.m. (EDT), Monday, Oct. 12. Rooms for students who do not respond by the deadline will be considered available for spring assignments.
The university also will provide spring housing for first-year international students unable to live on campus this fall because of travel restrictions, as well as first-year and transfer students enrolling at Case Western Reserve for the first time this spring.
Based on the remaining availability, on-campus housing priority will be given, in order, to:
- Sophomores and juniors not permitted to live on campus this fall
- First-year students and those graduating in 2021 who chose not to live on campus this fall
These students also must indicate their preferences via CampusGroups no later than 8 p.m. (EDT), Monday, Oct. 12.
As in the fall, students with extenuating circumstances that make living off campus problematic will be able to apply for exceptions that allow them to live on campus.
Unfortunately, students will need to express their preferences without knowing which spring courses will be delivered in person, remotely or a blend of the two modes. We thought it more important to provide families as much notice as possible about their final housing options, and so need to start that process now to determine how many rooms are available for assignment.
Because we cannot predict what coming weeks and months will bring, we must stress that this housing approach could change in response to new developments. Should we need to adjust these plans, we will update you as soon as possible.
Thank you again for all of the changes and sacrifices you have made to allow Case Western Reserve to open safely this fall. Please continue your COVID-19 prevention practices, and we look forward to communicating with you again in the near future.
Scott Cowen
President
Ben Vinson III
Provost and Executive Vice President