Many on-campus students are calling for changes to be made to Geneseo’s two-year residency requirement as a result of COVID-19.
When Geneseo made the decision to hold hybrid classes this semester, first- and second-year students had to consider many factors when deciding whether they would return to campus.
One issue that has since arisen for many students for next year is the two-year residency requirement within the contracts from Residence Life. The Residence Life webpage explains any releases from the four-semester requirement due to COVID-19 are temporary and students must return to complete all four semesters on-campus.
“I didn’t know at first what I was signing, but apparently the school says there’s a two-year residency requirement,” psychology major sophomore Alena Huynh said in a Zoom interview. “I feel like a lot of students didn’t know that we had to. I don’t know too much about it.”
Assistant Director of Housing Operations Taylor Gale explained during an in-person interview that the contract is for students to have a “rich residential experience.”
“The reasoning behind the residency requirement for our college and many others is we truly believe in the residential experience,” Gale said. “There are studies that show that students who live on-campus do better academically, especially when they’re in their first couple of years transitioning to college.”
The exception to the rule is transfer students who have a certain number of credits, but there is a process that students can complete to be request release from the requirement.
Gale explained that there are two forms—the release from housing application and the residency requirement waiver—that students can complete at any time with documented proof that supports the student’s request for release.
“[The release from housing application] indicates to us that they’re looking to move off-campus, where—if they’re not living on campus—they’re living off-campus whether that’s pursuing off-campus or commuting,” Gale said. “The waiver is just saying like ‘we recognize that you have no fulfilled your four semesters on-campus but are releasing you from that due to your application.’”
Aside from having all online classes, the most common reasons students cite are medical, commuter and financial reasons, according to Gale. All requests are reviewed by the director of Residence Life, Sarah Frank, and approved on a case-by-case basis.
Huynh created the Geneseo Speaks petition on Sept. 12 because she and her friends are struggling to find housing due to the two-year requirement. The unusual circumstances of COVID-19 have made their search harder because the decision to stay home is only a temporary release from the contract.
“I just think that since there’s a pandemic going on the school should be more accommodating with everyone’s circumstances. I know a lot of people whose family lost their jobs and businesses were shut down and a lot of people having financial issues,” Huynh said. “I feel like since we were concerned about our safety, we shouldn’t be punished by having to live on campus for two years when there’s a pandemic going on.”
Huynh also added that she tried to fill out a waiver for this semester due to safety concerns but was informed of the requirement by the school.
“I just didn’t think that was reasonable because no one would really rent an apartment out for me in January,” Huynh said. “I know a lot of my friends actually signed a lease for a house and there was a lot of them in there. The school told them they would have to live on-campus for next year. So, they had to back out of the lease and there was a lot of issues with that.”
Currently, Huynh has heard no response from Geneseo about her petition that has over 180 signatures. She has also said that parents who have called Residence Life were told “there’s just nothing they can do about it,” especially since the department has been receiving a greater amount of calls.
“I made the petition two-ish weeks ago and there’s no response or anything,” Huynh said. “I thought after 75 signatures I would get the response, but I didn’t. I know another person created another one because mine didn’t get a response.” The second petition was posted on Sept. 21. It reiterates Huynh’s points about the struggle of COVID-19 and addresses further financial concerns arising for students, families and Geneseo landlords trying to rent houses. It has over 80 signatures.
Gale said that while she does not know what changes will be made, discussions are occurring between her supervisors about students’ concerns. She further explained the intent behind asking students to finish all four semesters.
“The reason why we’re all asking for students who are sophomores to come back and live on-campus and complete their four-semester requirement—even though they’ll be academically standing in a way that we’d usually allow them to move off-campus—is because we believe in that residential experience and what it provides for students in terms of support,” Gale said. “We would like to see that everyone gets both years of experience living here.”
Gale said she empathizes with students who wish to move off-campus as she sees the benefits of on- and off-campus living.
“For me, my job is pretty data driven, so I see the benefit of living on campus when I am able to look at things like peoples’ GPAs when they live on-campus vs. off-campus which do tend to be higher [on-campus] because they have a little more support and direct interaction with the resources we have,” Gale said. “At the same time, I understand the need for wanting independent living … That’s something that I want to be mindful of as well.”
Huynh said she hopes that Residence Life will be accommodating to the problems caused by COVID-19.
“I hope that they do waive it for a lot of the sophomores because it would be really hard to find somewhere to live second semester next year,” Huynh said. “I just wish they would tell us more and keep us informed and updated that this was happening before we came back.”
Overall, Gale said she believes in the residency requirement but understands that everything is different due to the pandemic.
“We do a lot of work to enhance our living-learning communities and really beef up the residential experience,” Gale said. “Right now, during COVID it feels pretty restrictive, our bottom line is that we want to keep people safe and here because that’s the end goal for most of us on-campus.”