Campus Housing Notification
THIS CONCERNS POSSIBLE CANCELLATION OF
YOUR 2020-2021 UNF HOUSING CONTRACT
The University of North Florida does not guarantee a COVID-19 free living environment. Taking steps to reduce the risk of COVID- 19 is the shared responsibility of the University and every member of our campus residential community.
The risks occasioned by the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19 have presented substantial challenges for the University of North Florida’s Department of Housing and Residence Life as the University approaches the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year.
The Department is responding to those challenges and is reaching out to you:
- to advise you of some important changes to the Resident Handbook and the Housing Rules and Regulations the Department has made. (You are required to comply with those changes by your Housing Contract.)
- to remind you of some of the occupancy and payment terms of your Housing Contract that are important to consider due to the uncertainty of COVID-19.
Because the changes to the Handbook and Rules and Regulations are substantial, and because the University’s decisions about the COVID-19 pandemic may result in a change in the housing occupancy dates you may be expecting, it is possible that you may no longer desire to live in University Housing
The Department wants to be certain that you are aware of the risks and understand the changes. If you are unable to accept the terms of occupancy described in this letter you will have the opportunity to CANCEL your 2020-2021 Housing Contract without any financial penalty.
Please read carefully the following changes and information, which you and every resident needs to know about:
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Health and Safety
- There is an inherent elevated risk associated with living in a community environment like University Housing, and the Residents have a shared obligation to prioritize health and safety for the benefit of the entire community.
- Exposure to the coronavirus and contracting COVID-19 can result in very serious illness and, in some cases, death to those who contract it. Residents may face an increased likelihood of serious illness if they have certain pre-existing medical conditions like disorders and diseases related to any of the following: immune deficiency; heart, lung, and other major organ problems; diabetes; high blood pressure; and asthma. All health and safety risks associated with COVID-19 may not yet have been fully determined by medical experts.
- Residents are responsible for considering their own personal health status and increased risk factors inherent with community living, including the risk of exposure to the coronavirus and contracting and transmitting COVID-19, when deciding to live on campus.
- Residents must adhere to University expectations intended to minimize risk of exposure to COVID-19 consistent with health and safety guidance including, but not limited to, limitations on mass gatherings, practicing physical distancing as recommended by CDC, and wearing appropriate face covering when within six feet of another individual (except when a Resident is in the Resident’s assigned room).
- University staff will educate and inform Residents on appropriate cleaning protocols within their personal living space and shared spaces. It is the responsibility of Residents to keep their personal living spaces in a sanitary condition and to adhere to sanitation standards in shared spaces. UNF staff have the right to conduct health and safety inspections of Residents’ living spaces.
- Residents may be required to submit to symptom checking, daily self-screening, and COVID-19 testing in order to access the residential community. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in disciplinary action, including removal from housing.
- Residents must disclose to the appropriate University medical official immediately upon notification of positive COVID-19 test status or contact from Florida Department of Health about exposure and instruction to isolate. Failure to comply with this may result in disciplinary action, including removal from housing.
- Residents must comply with University direction requiring quarantining, isolation, and separation. At any time, the University may request or require a Resident to leave housing when that Resident’s continued presence in the community poses a health or safety risk for community members. Residents are required to comply with requests from Housing and Residence Life to leave their assigned space due to COVID-19 or other public health emergency, and failure to do so is a violation of their Housing Contract and may subject them to emergency removal from their assigned spaces. Not all UNF housing rooms or halls are appropriate for quarantine or isolation. Removal from housing to isolate or quarantine does not constitute cancellation of a Resident’s Housing Contract.
- Residents are required to comply with all health and safety law, orders, ordinances, policies, regulations, and guidance adopted by the University or Department of Housing and Residence Life as it relates to COVID-19. This guidance may evolve as circumstances warrant.
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Access, Use, and Room Changes
- The University may restrict the full use of spaces and amenities within the residential community including, but not limited to:
- No visitors, including overnight guests, are permitted.
- Access to residential spaces is restricted to residential Residents, University staff, and approved vendors, except in connection with move-in/move-out procedures approved by University Housing, and except in extraordinary circumstances when first approved by Housing and Residence Life.
- Residents may only enter the residential community to which they are assigned unless otherwise posted or permitted by Housing and Residence Life
- A Resident may have only one other Housing community resident as a guest in the Resident’s assigned room (one guest in a room at one time).
- Access to and use of housing amenities/space may be restricted or limited in capacity including. Those include, but are not limited to: lounges, study rooms, cooking kitchens, laundry rooms, lobbies, atriums, elevators, multi-purpose space, recreational fields and courts, pools and pool decks, game rooms, and fitness rooms.
- Building, room, and roommate assignments may be changed prior to arrival or at any time during the term of the Housing Contract.
- Resident-initiated room change requests may be restricted or limited after occupancy.
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Occupancy Period; Contract Sum
- Under your Housing Contract, specific occupancy dates begin and end on the dates the residence facility is designated “open” and “closed,” respectively. The “open” and “closed” dates are not required to align, but traditionally have aligned with the University’s academic calendar, which is itself subject to adjustment.
- At this time the course of the coronavirus is unknown, and no one can accurately predict how life-threatening or pervasive the coronavirus or COVID-19 will be or how quickly it will progress through our area during the 2020-2021 academic year. Due to the current uncertainty about its spread, it is possible that the Department of Housing and Residence Life would designate residence facilities “open” later than the beginning of the semester term and it is possible that the Department would designate them “closed” before (even substantially before) the end of the semester term. It is possible that there could be a closing and re-opening in the same semester. It is also possible, and the Department hopes that the “open” and “closed” dates will more closely align with the academic calendar.
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The contract sum you pay under your Housing Contract covers your occupancy in University Housing for the occupancy dates specified by the Department, whatever those dates turn out to be. The contract sum is fixed, and neither you nor any other resident is entitled to reimbursement of any portion of the contract sum as the result of an “open” date that is later than the beginning of the semester term or a “closed” date that is earlier (even substantially earlier) than the end of the semester term, or as the result of any closing and re-opening within the semester term.
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Dining and Meal Memberships
- While Dining Services will be offering nutritious meals to those with meal memberships, the Osprey Café will be modifying operations from previous semesters to ensure health and safety remain at the forefront of the service model. As examples, the self-service salad bar will be replaced with employee-built or prepackaged salads, members of the dining services team will create all plates, and milk and soda dispensers will be replaced with cartons, bottles and canned beverages.
- While sustainability has always been a focus of the University’s program, it is critical that measures are taken to increase use of disposables and to-go packages. Face masks will be required of Residents when on-site, except when eating. Seating capacity will be reduced and a 6-foot separation from others will be required. There may be scheduling or reservation requirements, building occupancy maximums and other measures implemented, such as dine on-site with the option to take the next meal to-go to ensure social distancing can be maintained within the Osprey Café.
- First-time-in-college Residents living in University Housing are required to purchase a meal membership. This will not change for the Fall 2020 or Spring 2021 semesters. Limited kitchen space in Housing facilities will not allow for regular personal meal preparation while maintaining adequate social distancing.
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The cost of your meal membership is fixed, and neither you nor any other mandatory meal plan member is entitled to reimbursement of any portion of the meal plan as the result of a residence hall “open” date that is later than the beginning of the semester term or a “closed” date that is earlier (even substantially earlier) than the end of the semester term, or as the result of any closing and re-opening within the semester term.
If the Resident declines to accept the details outlined in this communication, the Resident may opt out of living on-campus for Fall 2020/Spring 2021 and will have until July 20, 2020 to submit a Contract Cancellation Request in the myHousing portal without any financial penalty. Residents who submitted their contract with a prepayment will have the full amount of their prepayment refunded to their UNF financial account.
If the Resident understands and agrees to comply with these expectations, no additional action is necessary. If no cancellation request is received by July 20, 2020 the Resident agrees to terms of this communication in addition to the UNF Housing Contract and current edition of the Resident Handbook.
