MISSOULA — The University of Montana is lively this morning as students officially begin moving onto campus.
But as to be expected, the move-in process looks quite different this year due to COVID-19. For example, move-in dates are staggered, starting Wednesday and ending on Aug. 16.
Housing staff have also asked students to reduce the number of people helping them move in, and to cut down on move-in time altogether, they requested students ship as many of their belongings to the dorms as they could before move-in day.
UM is currently utilizing eight residence halls and housing about 1,250 people and they’ve reduced the number of students that could normally fit on each floor. Fortunately, housing staff says they didn’t have to turn anyone away, and they still have the capacity to house those who may be making a last-minute decision to live on campus.
Once they get settled, students will be asked to wear masks in the common areas, social distance, and follow protocol. While staff plan to continuously clean the residence halls throughout the day, they say it’ll be up to the students to follow the guidelines.
"We can put all the signage up in the world, we can put up our Plexiglas barriers. We can put our signs on the floor that say please stay six-feet away," said UM Housing and Community Standards executive director Sandy Curtis. "But unless everybody does their part it's not going to work.
More information about UM's COVID-19 response plans can be found here.
We will have more on how the University of Montana UM is handling its on-campus housing this year during Wednesday's 5:30 News.
