With COVID-19 cases increasing at Binghamton University, some students are being removed from their housing assignments on short notice and moved into different areas in order to create room for quarantine and isolation housing.

This past Wednesday, a Hillside Community resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was told that they and their suitemates had until Sunday to move out to make room for quarantine dorms. The student said they knew the Evangola and Minnewaska buildings in Hillside Community were being made into quarantine housing, and the University has been moving out dozens of people over the past week.

“With other buildings lately, they’ve been moving them out to make quarantine housing,” the anonymous student said. “It’s very clear that the University didn’t expect this. You don’t get time, you have three days or four days to move.”

According to Ryan Yarosh, senior director of media and public relations, the University is offering displaced students a 25 percent discount on their housing fees. Yarosh added that the Hillside Community was chosen for evacuation because the selected apartment buildings were only at about 50 percent capacity originally, so choosing these buildings meant displacing the least amount of students.

The anonymous student said some of their friends were being moved into smaller rooms. In order to be moved to a room of similar size, the anonymous student said they would have to split up from their current suitemates.

According to the anonymous student, the University also offered students a moving service to assist in their transition to new housing but emailed students too late in the day for them to access the service.

“[The University] said, ‘We have a moving service for you Thursday and Friday, but you have to make an appointment 12 hours before you want it to happen,’” the anonymous student said. “It has to be between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. They emailed us at 4 p.m., so that immediately makes it so Thursday you can’t actually make an appointment … so the only day is Friday.”

The anonymous student’s resident assistant (RA) was also relocated but had problems with their room and has yet to receive help from the University.

“He got moved to the building next to us, but the room has bed bugs,” the anonymous student said. “They don’t care — they’re not doing anything about it.”

The anonymous student added that people who currently live in the same building are being spread out into different buildings. According to BU COVID-19 guidelines, students are “not allowed to visit other residence halls other than where they live.” With this restriction in place, many students will not be able to see the friends they were allowed to see before being moved.

“It sucks because my boyfriend and I are like opposite sides [of the community] at this point,” the anonymous student said. “You’re allowed to meet people in your building under [COVID-19] guidelines, as long as it’s six feet apart. But now, obviously, we can’t see each other under guidelines.”

The anonymous student claimed the University knew about the fact that they would be moved days before they notified the students, and their RA was not allowed to inform them until the email was sent out.

“My RA was sending cryptic messages in the chat like, ‘I’m being moved, I can’t say anything until later,’” the student said. “He knew about it, but they wouldn’t let him say anything. If they had known for a few days, they should have told us. At least with a week, you could have found a time in between classes. But no, if you have classes Thursday and Friday you really just have the weekend.”

The anonymous student said their RA has repeatedly reached out to their superiors in Residential Life but has not received any help with their rooming situation and has had their job threatened.

“He went up to his supervisor and then up to his supervisor’s supervisor, so he was going really high — and they did not care,” the student said. “They basically said that they’re closer to firing him than doing anything. He said he’s not going to be working for Residential Life in a few weeks. I think he just decided he didn’t want to deal with this.”

Students displaced by these evacuations are not eligible to receive refunds for their housing if they choose to return home, a clause the anonymous student found concerning.

“If I get into a room with bed bugs, I’m paying, so what do I do,” the anonymous student said. “I can’t really just go home because I’m paying for this.”