Stony Brook Students Weigh in on Changes to Their College Life Due to Coronavirus

By Julianne Mosher

Amidst the COVID-19 health crisis that is shaking the world, Stony Brook University students are now being affected – especially those who rely on dorming on campus. 

The last week has been turbulent, and for students the news has been changing daily. On March 11, SBU Interim President Michael Bernstein sent out an email to students telling them that classes were going to resume remotely after spring break. 

“Spring break (March 16-20) will commence as planned at the end of this week and we will begin remote instruction at the conclusion of the break,” the email read. “Accordingly, students planning to leave campus for spring break should take with them any items essential to continuing their education from home including laptops, textbooks, notebooks, essential papers and other material. Students should also bring home valuables and indispensable items in the event that a sustained period will pass before they are able to easily retrieve them.”

The email came shortly after angry and anxious students began protesting the administration, as rumors began to swirl among the student body. 

“Administration didn’t really communicate with us,” said Jeni Dhodary, a philosophy and economics major. “We didn’t get an official response until the day before spring break. … It’s a really messy situation.”

Since students were gearing up for their break, they were advised to go home and stay home, if they could, even though the dorms and some food spots would remain open on campus for students preferring to stay there.

Caroline Klewinowski, originally of Brooklyn, opted to stay in her dorm instead of heading home for spring break. 

“New York City seems like ground zero for coronavirus,” she said. “Long Island seems a lot safer.” The journalism major’s mother suffers from lupus, which was another reason she wanted to stay away from home. 

But then things changed and on March 17 the university sent out another email to students saying that on-campus housing will close and students must go home. 

Richard Gatteau, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of Students, and Dallas Bauman, assistant vice president for Campus Residences stated in another email the plans for students over the next several days. 

“All residents who live within driving distance of campus must vacate the residence halls and campus apartments as soon as possible, but no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 19. All other residents must vacate as soon as possible, but no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20,” it read. “Room and meal plan costs, where applicable, will be prorated for the remainder of the semester for all students leaving campus housing and applied as a refund and/or credit to your student account based on the date of checkout.”

With an international student body that makes up about 18 percent of the university, those students are required to move out as well, since “Visa and Immigration Services will not terminate or shorten the immigration records for F-1/J-1 degree-seeking students who remain enrolled and depart the U.S. It is important to note that Customs and Border Protection has not provided updated guidance regarding procedures for reentry, including the five-month absence from the U.S.”

International student, Vaidik Trivedi, who lives off campus, was concerned about the initial reports of remote learning, but found comfort in having his own place not within the dorms — even though there are bans on going outside. 

“I don’t know what to do with my weekends now,” he said. “I think we need to deal with this logically, rather than focus on the mayhem.”

Trivedi added it was hard being on campus, with little communication coming from the administration and rumors spreading at a rapid rate. 

“The university created havoc … students didn’t know what was going on,” the 22-year-old said. “They could have communicated better with the students while the rumors caught on fire, especially with the international students. It was one week too late.”

Maria Tsapuik, a Junior Multidisciplinary Studies major is originally from Ukraine, which banned all commercial travel coming into the country March 17. The same day, Stony Brook shut down the dorms.

“I understand their decision to [close the dorms], but they should have told us earlier … before every country shut its borders and there is no way for us to get out,” she said.

She has filled out the form for an extended stay and is waiting for an answer from the university. If they do not grant her an extended stay,  she said she has someone to stay with.

While students are packing up to leave and find shelter in their homes away from the campus grounds, one thing all college students are feeling is a general sense of heartache that their year at school is being cut short. 

Frank Gargano, a senior, dormed on campus, but went home for spring break only to find out he had to drive back to school to pack up his room. 

“I’m half-mad that the housing money is essentially shot, and half-mad I can’t hang out with my friends as often as I could during my last semester,” he said. “I’m essentially robbed of my last semester.”

Even professors are feeling the changes coming to Stony Brook University, by placing their courses online with no physical student interaction. 

“It’s much less rewarding because I like to teach in a classroom and encourage students to speak up in class,” adjunct journalism professor Jon Friedman, said. “But I like to take on new challenges, and this is an enormous one.”

He added he feels badly for the students who are planning to graduate this May. 

“The last semester should be their happiest time and now they probably won’t be able to celebrate a normal commencement ceremony,” he said. “Throwing your cap in the air in triumph, in your backyard, doesn’t give a student the same kind of thrill.”

This post has been updated with additional reporting by Leah Chiappino