Residence Life COVID-19 update
Sent March 17, 2020 to all residential students from the Office of Residence Life
Dear Students,
I hope you are doing well and are successfully navigating a switch in course delivery, while balancing social distancing. I hope to provide some more guidelines, let you know some programming ideas we have going on, and provide some opportunities to answer some of your questions. Please be reminded that as of 2pm today, (March 17), there are no current positive tests for COVID-19 in Madison County or at Union. Please also remember that the expectation is that recommendations in regards to this virus will change as more information becomes known about the virus or how it affects our community. Thank you for reading the whole email!
Residence Life Updates
- If you are on campus and will be leaving to go home or elsewhere, please remember to communicate that with your RA so we can know who is on campus at all times.
- People's travel plans are changing day to day. If you are planning to head home or travel elsewhere over Spring Break, it may be prudent to take anything you need for classes with you in case you decide not to immediately return to campus after Spring Break.
- The Bowld Gym and Game Room, and McAfee Commons Game room will be closed until further notice. In an effort to keep our areas disinfected and provide proper social distancing, we believe it in the best interest of our community to restrict these areas.
- Vespers: We will begin a brief Vespers (evening worship) time each night at 9pm. What we would like you to do is open the windows of your apartment into the quad/lawn area shortly before 9pm where someone will lead us all in a hymn and the doxology. Tonight we will sing together "Rock of Ages" – the lyrics are at the bottom of this email. If you would be willing to lead this time for your Quad (Ayers, Hurt, Watters, Grace, Hope) or group of buildings in Heritage (Craig, Dehoney, Dodd, Grey; Jarman Lee Paschall; or Pollard, Rogers, Sullivan, Wright), please let your RA know you would be willing.
- Instagram: We’ll have a lot happening at the @uu_reslife Instagram account over the next several weeks. Any quick updates that need to be made will be posted there. We will post some challenges each day (you can see our WashYourLyrics challenge on the story now). I also wanted to let you know that Nurse Paul will be doing a livestream and taking questions tomorrow (March 18th) at 3:30pm CDT. Please follow for the most up-to-date info and activities: http://www.instagram.com/uu_reslife.
Social Distancing vs self-quarantine vs isolation, etc.
You have likely heard these words thrown around and may not know what they mean in general, or for your specific situation.
While living on campus, isolation means that you currently have a positive test result of COVID-19, so you must stay in your apartment/be moved to a different apartment (or go home with family) until your symptoms have subsided and you are cleared by a medical professional. If this occurs, please email clinic@uu.edu for advice and assistance and email dining@uu.edu for any meal delivery needs.
While living on campus, self-quarantine means that you currently have symptoms that could be indicators of COVID-19 such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath. If this occurs you (and your roommates who have likely been exposed) should stay in your apartments (or go home) for at least 14 days after the initial symptoms began. Please email clinic@uu.edu for advice and assistance and email dining@uu.edu for any meal delivery needs. We understand that many people have seasonal allergies and that it is cold and flu season. However, one of the ways we can best love our neighbor and care for our community and their families is by treating those symptoms as contagious until proven otherwise (by testing or lack of symptoms).
While living on campus, social distancing means that you currently have no symptoms that could be indicators of COVID-19, but you should still be spending most of your time in your apartment. If you leave to gather with others or eat, you should stay at least 6 feet away from others and gather in groups no larger than 4-5.
Dining Services
Dining services will continue to provide grab and go meal options at regular hours through 2pm on Friday, March 20th. Food service will close for Spring Break and will reopen Monday, March 30th. Please remember that this grab-and-go option is for you to grab your food and go back to your apartment to eat (social distancing, remember?) If you have any questions for dining services they can be reached at dining@uu.edu.
Tips
One of the hardest parts of this whole situation is that the Lord created us for community and we now need to (for a season) spend time distancing ourselves from in-person contact. This can feel incredibly isolating. As we’ve talked with students, some helpful tips for easing the isolation are:
- Set a schedule. Occupy your time with good things (class, reading, Scripture and personal worship time).
- Make use of FaceTime and other video-chatting technologies. Start a movie or TV show with your friends at the same time and talk on the phone about it as it’s going on.
- Follow @uu_reslife on Instagram and take part in the daily challenges (shameless plug).
- If you are feeling severely isolated, anxious, or depressed, Union counseling staff is still available for in-person appointments (6 feet away) and phone counseling sessions, so long as you are in the state of Tennessee. More information and the ability to schedule an appointment can be found at https://www.uu.edu/studentlife/counseling-services/
Thanks for reading to the end. Please join us tonight out your window at 9pm for Vespers.
Blessings to you all,
Ken Litscher
Dean of Student Life
Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.