After some initial confusion, the few students still living in NYU residence halls are able to practice social distancing and continue their lives in the city amid the pandemic. 

In an email on Monday, March 16, NYU President Andrew Hamilton informed students that residence halls would be closed and classes would be continuing remotely for the rest of the semester. This shift was largely prompted by the potential of New York State using dormitories as hospital overflow space.

This became a reality when NYU offered the use of Carlyle Court Residence Hall and Third Avenue North Residence Hall to city medical personnel. As of Monday, April 6, medical workers treating coronavirus patients at NYU Langone Health had begun moving into Third North. 

Despite the medical necessity, the residence hall shutdown was difficult for many students. For this reason, the university granted exemptions to allow students in extraordinary circumstances to remain in the dorms, prioritizing at-risk student populations, including students facing homelessness, housing or food insecurity, queer and trans students who don’t feel safe at home and international students.

School of Professional Studies sophomore Nhat Tien Nguyen is one of those students granted an exemption. As an international student from Vietnam, he chose to continue living at Palladium Residence Hall, because the option was available and he believed that it would be safer than returning home. 

”For me, the risk was too high,” Nguyen told WSN. “There’d be a big crowd at the airport, and I’d have to take two flights and then go into quarantine away from home with many other returning students.”

NYU is working to ensure the safety and health of students like Nguyen who are still living in the residence halls, Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs in Residential Life and Housing Services Tom Ellett told WSN in an email statement.

“Students have been relocated into separate apartments within Palladium Hall, Gramercy Green, and UHall to better meet the needs of social distancing and to provide more efficient services,” he said. 

Ellett said that if a student in NYU housing were to catch the coronavirus, their care and isolation would primarily be in the hands of the Office of Public Safety and the Student Health Center. 

“NYU Public Safety and the Student Health Center will lead the support of students in residence who become ill and ensure that a student in isolation receives the resources they need,” Ellett said. 

He added that students should contact the Student Health Center at 212-443-1000 as soon as they feel ill. 

In the residence halls themselves, RLHS staff members are still working to support operations and are available to students who require assistance. Supplies, Wi-Fi and laundry are still available and hall Resource Centers are open Monday to Friday from 1-2 p.m. 

Public Safety officers are posted 24/7 in each hall, and students can pick up three to-go meals during select hours at Palladium Dining Hall. Because of the continuation of these operations, Nguyen feels as if dorm life is continuing somewhat normally.

Regardless, students like Nguyen are confronted with the reality that life in the city has been put on pause. 

“I haven’t gone outside in two weeks,” Nguyen said. “Nightlife in New York is pretty much on hold right now.”

After being cooped up for so long, Nguyen said he longs to go out but remains concerned about the risk.

“It’s hard when you have amazing weather, but you don’t know if you’re going to get the virus right now,” he said. “I’m tempted to go to Walgreens to pick up some spices.”

Nguyen said that the transition period after Hamilton’s first email was a bit chaotic, but it was handled pretty smoothly afterward, and he quickly received responses to the questions he had. 

Although some students cited difficulties with the relocation process, Nguyen was allowed to stay in the same room he had all year.

Nguyen appreciates how NYU has managed the situation and the support he has been shown by residential life. 

“It was definitely one of the highlights,” he said. “I gotta say thank you to them. It was a very tough week, but it was amazing to see how they managed to control and stabilize the situation.”

Email Jessica Xu at [email protected].