Campus residence halls will close at 6 p.m. today and will not reopen until noon March 18.
Sophomore Nathan Baldwin lives in Hinton James Residence Hall but isn't leaving until Saturday because he plays on the Rugby Football Club, which is playing Middle Tennessee State at 1 p.m. Saturday. As for where he's staying Friday night, Baldwin said he doesn't really know but that he'd most likely stay somewhere off campus with a friend.
But Baldwin said officials should allow students to lock up their rooms and leave when it's convenient for them. "I'm disappointed that (the University) doesn't trust the students enough to handle the situation on their own," he said.
But the Department of University Housing has taken steps to accommodate those students who have requested to stay in University housing next week.
Housing Director Christopher Payne said the department received 19 requests from both undergraduate and graduate students asking to stay on campus next week.
He said that in years past, the department had to screen applicants, giving preference to those who lived farthest away. But this year, Payne said, all students who asked to stay on campus will be able to do so, even those students who are from Chapel Hill.
Rebecca Casey, assistant director of marketing for the housing department, said the department sent out an e-mail to all students currently living on campus, inviting them to fill out an interim housing form, available on the housing Web site, by Feb. 9. The fee for staying on campus during Spring Break is $90.
Whitehead is the only residence hall that will remain open, and the additional 19 students seeking housing will stay in apartments in Odum Village, the student family housing apartments.
Rather than have the students stay in residence hall lounges as they have in the past, Payne said several empty apartments will be temporary homes for these students. Payne added that security and on-call procedures will not change at all.
