Wright State adjusts Operation Move-In to safely welcome residential students to campus

Wright State changed Operation Move-In, including expanding the event to four days, to allow new and returning residential students to safely move their belongings into campus housing. (File photo from 2018)

The traditional golf cart brigade may not be possible, but Wright State University will still welcome new residential students to the Dayton Campus during an adjusted Operation Move-In Aug. 20–23.

More than 1,260 new and returning students will move into 29 residence halls and on-campus apartments.

Fall semester classes begin Aug. 24. The semester includes a combination of remote, flexible delivery, and safe, socially distant, in-person classes. Read more about Wright State’s plans for the fall semester.

Traditionally, the Wright State community comes together for a large move-in event, with more than 400 volunteers helping new students settle into their new homes. The coronavirus pandemic has forced Wright State to alter its plans to ensure that students are able to move into on-campus housing safely.

New and returning students will schedule a specific time and date to move their belongings into residential housing to avoid overcrowding in the residence halls. The move-in process was also expanded from two days to four. Students may bring two people to help them move in.

“Move-In will be different this year than it has been for the past 25 years as a result of accommodating safety considerations for COVID-19,” said Dan Bertsos, director of Residence Life and Housing.

Students should first arrive on campus in Lot 4, where Residence Life and Housing staff will check them in with a touchless drive-through process. Staff volunteers will be on hand to give directions, answer questions and sanitize carts after they are used.

Students will receive a Wright Start kit that includes hand sanitizer, masks for the student and their two helpers, a thermometer, reminders of campus safety protocols, and instructions on how to register to vote and request an absentee ballot.

Students who traveled to Wright State for the fall semester, whether living on- or off-campus, have been instructed to self-quarantine for two weeks if coming from a high-prevalence area, based on data from the State of Ohio.

On-campus housing will be limited to single-bedroom arrangements, and a shared commitment to health and safety behaviors will be added to roommate/housemate agreements. Special housing considerations will be provided for students who are immunocompromised or have an underlying health condition.

Residential living plans include protocols for capacity; enhanced cleaning and disinfection; appropriate physical distancing; and required use of acceptable face coverings in common areas. Guests and visitors are not permitted in residential housing. Common areas will be closed.

Residence Life and Housing has designated separate housing facilities for students who are in quarantine or isolation because of illness. Residential students who test or are presumed positive for COVID-19 will be temporarily re-assigned to a new room on campus.

Read more about protocols for on-campus housing.

Although all Wright State classes will be delivered remotely after Thanksgiving, students may continue to live in campus housing during and after the Thanksgiving break through the start of spring semester.

Students who live off-campus during the fall semester will be permitted to live in residential housing during the spring semester.