This week students living in residence at Montreal’s Concordia University were told that they will be required to move out by the end of the day on Sunday, leaving them a window of only a few days to find another place to live. The move echoes similar decisions made on campuses across the country, but not in the Eastern Townships.
“Right now the plan is to keep (the residences) open,” said Olivier Bouffard, Director of Communications at Bishop’s University. “We don’t want to put anyone out on the street.”
Bouffard said that although only about 20 per cent of the students who had been living in residence this semester are still there, the school does not intend to kick anyone out early, recognizing the fact that it might be difficult for international students, for example, to find somewhere else to go on short notice. The school is also maintaining food services to support those who have chosen to stay, even though in-person academic activities will not be starting up again at the school this semester.
Nancy Beattie, Campus Director for Champlain College in Lennoxville said that about 40 of that school’s students have opted to stay in residence.
“We did encourage students to go home if they could,” Beattie said, adding that there is additional cleaning taking place and that non-residents are banned from the buildings until further notice.
Isabelle Huard from the Université de Sherbrooke simply said that the school’s residences are remaining open until further notice, and that all of the information regarding the U de S response to COVID-19 is being updated regularly at www.usherbrooke.ca/coronavirus/
The Cegep de Sherbrooke has similarly posted on their website that their residences remain open with additional sanitary measures in place until further notice.
See full story in the Friday, March 20 edition of The Record.
