‘No one knows what to do’: Students react to change in housing at UNCW

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The University of North Carolina Wilmington notified students living on-campus with roommates on Tuesday that one of them must move out and into a single occupant room or go home by September 16.

“I think everyone’s caught by surprise here,” freshman Graysen Jeffreys said. “I don’t really know what to say.”

The university says the change will not affect anyone’s budget. Students moving to more expensive areas will not be charged more and students moving to less expensive areas, or going home, will be given a pro-rated refund.

“I don’t know. No one knows what to do,” Jeffreys said.

Jeffreys says deciding who will move out is a tough decision.

“We share a lot of things in our room and I don’t want to cause any issues with my roommate trying to decide who gets what, who has to stay, who moves out,” she said.

A decision has to be made by Thursday. If not, the university will choose randomly.

“It’s a lot to juggle honestly. We still have in-person classes, so a lot of us are struggling with what to do,” Jeffreys said.

Freshman Grace Handle says she and her roommate planned to move off campus together, but the university is not permitting students to do so unless they will be living with parents or guardians.

“We wanted to just go ahead and do that cause me, my suite-mates and my roommate are really, really close now,” Handle said. “So it sucks that we’ll be separated but at least we can still see each other, I guess, on campus.”

Even though the situation is not ideal, Handle remains positive.

“I’m from out of state so staying on campus was always my goal,” Handle said. “Staying in Wilmington because I love where I live, so as long as I get to stay on campus I’m fine with that.”

One student has started a petition asking the school to reconsider the plan.

She offers suggestions of locking down the campus, adding curfews and more serious punishments for those not social distancing or wearing masks.

At the time this article was written, the petition had more than 300 signatures.