BUZZ DINING GUIDE SEE INSERT MONDAY September 21, 2020
THE DAILY ILLINI
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Vol. 150 Issue 9
Barton-Lundgren cleared out for isolation spaces “There is not the immediate need right now for the utilization of these spaces,” Hamilton said. “We wanted to be proactive should the time come when students need the additional space.” Students were allowed two guests to assist them in the moving out process, but they had to figure out how to transport belongings to their new assigned dorm on their own. Sara Siddiqui, a freshman in AHS and former Barton resident, asked her family members to drive to campus in order to assist her in the process. Siddiqui was frustrated because the initial email asking their residents to move out was sent right before Labor Day weekend. This resulted in an automatic reply when the students raised their concerns about the short notice. “I just thought it was unprofessional that they ghosted us for the weekend,” Siddiqui said. “Even if they had stuck to the original plan, it would have been fine, but I wish they would’ve given us more notice from the beginning.” Even though students such as Siddiqui were frustrated, Hamilton stated that this move was necessary and the University was attentive to the students’ request for more time. She said that the University’s plans “have been forced because of COVID-19 to pivot many many times.” The University has also formulated more contingency plans to ensure campus safety if COVID-19 rates spike up, though Hamilton said they’re “currently unable to be shared with the public.” Hamilton said she is unsure if students from other dorms across campus will be relocated. The resident advisors of Barton-Lundgren have been reassigned to other halls across campus. The resident director, Allie Santiago, has been relinquished of her responsibilities over Barton-Lundgren and will focus on her other assigned hall, Taft.
BY MONA ALRAZZAQ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHAMPAIGN-URBANA PUBLIC HEALTH DISTRICT
Employees work at their computers in the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District’s operations center. CUPHD is responsible for all contact tracing in Champaign County.
Student dismissed for COVID violation Committee issues dismissal, violated policy not disclosed BY ALIZA MAJID AND AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA STAFF WRITERS
One student has been dismissed from the University for a COVID-related violation, student conduct officials confirmed on Thursday. The dismissal was issued by the Subcommittee on Undergraduate Student Conduct. The University has not disclosed which policy the student violated.
Like all University dismissals, the student may petition to return to the University at “an identified future semester,” Dean of Student Support and Advocacy Stephen Bryan and Student Affairs spokesperson Chantelle Thompson wrote in an email. This dismissal is different from the eight “interim suspensions” that have been issued to other students who’ve violated COVID-related policies. Interim suspensions are issued by the Chancellor. Students are granted a formal hearing with the appropriate subcommittee on student conduct, Bryan and Thompson wrote. “Such action is taken only in situations in which the student’s behavior puts the safety of the University community at risk,” they added. At the hearing, the proceedings are “limited to the question of whether contin-
uation of the suspension is necessary to avoid an obvious danger to the university community,” according to the University’s Student Disciplinary Procedures. The suspension period lasts until a “final decision” on the case’s outcome is reached, Thompson and Bryan wrote. Students can return to classes once their suspensions are lifted, but they must communicate with their colleges about appropriate academic procedures. For dismissals, a student must petition to the University to be readmitted, and there is no preliminary hearing. During a dismissal or suspension, a student is not allowed to enroll in any classes, nor can they complete their degree through the University. However, while students’ disciplinary cases are under
investigation, the students can still take classes, Bryan and Thompson wrote. Students have been reprimanded this semester for violating COVID rules such as “failing to wear masks or social distance, hosting dangerous gatherings without taking proper precautions, violating isolation and quarantine orders, ignoring communications from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and failing to comply with the testing requirement,” they added. Though the two-week stay-at-home order has been lifted, the University and public health officials continue to urge students to limit their in-person activities on campus due to the surge in cases three weeks back, said Awais Vaid, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District administrator. SEE DISMISSED | 3A
Around 100 Barton-Lundgren residents were granted a week-long extension to completely move out of their rooms before the University converted both dorms into student quarantine and isolation spaces. On Sept. 4, University Housing gave Barton-Lundgren residents until Sept. 13 to move out of the dorms entirely. A week-long extension was granted after students drafted an email sharing their concerns and frustrations about the decision, ranging from it being too short of a notice to the lack of an elevator to help carry their belongings out of the dorms, bringing the new move-out deadline to Sept. 20. Since the beginning of the year, Barton-Lundgren have been used as “secondary locations” for quarantining or isolating students within University Housing. Another 13 University dorms have wings dedicated to student quarantine and isolation. Universit y Housing spokesperson Chelsea Hamilton said that the University “ensured the safety of all residents in the building so there was no contact with general students and those in isolation” while the noninfected residents of BartonLundgren were moving out. The students were sent a preference form to indicate which residence hall they wanted to move to. A majority of the students were relocated into single dorms around the Ikenberry area and charged the same rate as Barton-Lundgren double dorms. At the beginning of the year, University Housing reserved 5% of their rooms for isolation and quarantine. Clearing Barton-Lundgren adds 132 empty rooms, bringing University Housing’s total quarantine and isolation spaces to 627. These spaces are only available to students with a University Housing contract. Hamilton said this move came from a concern about flu season approaching and coinciding with the COV- monaa2@dailyillini.com ID-19 pandemic.
Positive cases continue declining in fourth week BY ETHAN SIMMONS
New cases of COVID-19
NEWS EDITOR
UI’s fourth week of classes, yielded the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases since move-in week. From Sept. 12-18, 181 more people tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time from over 58,000 on-campus saliva tests. From Aug. 15-21, when most students moved back to campus, 192 new cases were identified from 47,000 saliva tests. Both weeks’ case counts pale in comparison to the first and second week of classes: 443 new cases in the week ended Aug. 28 and 895 new cases in the week ended Sept. 4. Since Aug. 15, 2,051 students, faculty and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 on campus from over 300,000 tests. University officials attribute the drop in new cases to the two-week stayat-home order issued by Chancellor Robert Jones on Sept. 2, when students were restricted to only essential movements. Week three of classes showed a promising decline: 340 new cases from 53,000 tests. At the beginning of each week, there is a bump in cases that University
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443 new cases of 78,271 tests
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340 new cases of 53,388 tests
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181 new cases of 58,354 tests
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RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
Lockdown
Aug. 24 Classes began
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Sept. 2
Lundgren Hall stands on the corner of Gregory Drive and Fourth Street on Sunday Morning. Around 100 students living in the dorm were asked to move out to create new isolation spaces.
Source: Illinois Shield Team
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BRIAN NGUYEN THE DAILY ILLINI
researchers believe comes from partying and community spread during the weekend prior. It’s a good indicator of how many unsafe gatherings occurred among students. As such, Mondays and Tuesdays typically yield the highest case counts of the week. In week two, 429 new cases were found in those two days. In week three, 150. Last week, there were just 85 new cases
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895 new cases of 74,263 tests
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found from tests done on Monday and Tuesday. Total tests have also declined since week two of classes when over 74,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted on campus. Since over 95% of cases have been found in undergraduate students, the University changed testing guidance for lower-risk populations on campus. Now, University faculty, staff and graduate students
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are only required to test once a week. Meanwhile, some students who are considered to be high-risk for the virus have been ordered to test three times a week. Since saliva tests were introduced to the community on July 6, over 344,000 tests have been conducted on campus and 2,138 COVID-19 cases have been identified from them as of Friday.
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