Iowa university students move in expecting more normal college experience

IOWA CITY — The same day this week that new University of Iowa freshman Brenna Hunt moved into her Catlett Residence Hall room, she got her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

With experts saying it takes two weeks after a second dose for the vaccine to become most effective, Hunt is close. Her new roommate and fellow Waukee High School graduate Ava Schipper, 18, hasn’t been vaccinated at all — but said she plans to.

“I was thinking about getting vaccinated before I came, but I was actually having a cold, so I just didn’t,” Schipper said after helping another student move in to his dorm Tuesday. “But I’m hoping to soon.”

While the pandemic and its safety precautions are on the minds of the thousands returning to Iowa’s universities this week, UI students who spoke with The Gazette said they’re hoping to move past the distanced, amended and sometimes compromised college experience of the last year.

“I’m really excited because we’ve been told that it should be hopefully more back to normal than it was last year,” Hunt, 19, said. “But I’m also kind of worried, just because of the delta variant, that it could end up being different than we're expecting it to be.”

As of Tuesday morning, just shy of 2,800 new and returning UI students had moved into the campus’ 10 residence halls since early move-in began over the weekend, with nearly 1,000 more expected on Tuesday alone. After new student move-in continues Wednesday and Thursday, and returning students are designated to arrive Saturday, the UI is expecting about 5,675 students to live on campus this year — up from last fall’s 5,218, which fell further after over 700 canceled their housing contracts amid the upended academic plans.

Thousands have been moving in at Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, too, as the fall semester at the three schools starts Monday. And, as the Board of Regents promised in May, the students are arriving to a more traditional and recognizable campus, with far fewer restrictions.

Masks and vaccines, while encouraged, aren’t mandated — despite faculty calls at all three campuses for such requirements. Courses are being offered in person to the same degree they were before the pandemic — again, despite faculty calls for more flexibility in allowing online courses.

Athletics are expected to return. Students again can convene in dining halls. They won’t have limits on guests in their dorm rooms or helpers as they move in. They can tailgate and participate in Greek system rush activities.

‘I was worried’

UI freshman Stephanie Cochlan, 18, of Chicago, said she saw her older brother experience his freshman year at the University of Pittsburgh under 2020’s unprecedented restrictions, compelling him eventually to return home — an experience she wants to avoid.

Her roommate, Camille Eastvold, 18, of Des Moines, said she paid attention to the UI’s plans before committing.

“I was worried about committing to Iowa and paying for dorms, just in case classes go back online and I still have to pay for living here when I could just be at home for cheaper,” Eastvold said. “So I was kind of concerned about that.”

Both are vaccinated and Eastvold said she hopes those who aren’t wear a mask — although students reported many weren’t while moving in.

UI Housing & Dining Director and Assistant Vice President for Student Life Von Stange said he and his staff are encouraging students to cover their faces but are not forcing them.

Although none of Iowa’s public universities are requiring vaccines, all are making vaccines and testing widely available and offering gift card incentives. Additional mitigation measures include wastewater testing at the UI residence halls aimed at catching a possible outbreak early.

And all three universities this fall again are setting aside residence hall beds for infected students or close contacts who need to isolate or quarantine. The UI is reserving 90 beds — far fewer than the 200-plus reserved last year.

COVID-19 positive students are expected to report their cases and then isolate either in a reserved room or at home. Of those who’ve been in close contact with a positive case, only unvaccinated students are expected to quarantine.

“If students have been vaccinated, they will just keep track of things, they won't have to relocate,” Stange said, noting vaccinated campus community members who’ve had a close contact test positive will be asked to wear a mask when they go out.

ISU deploys peer mentors

With UI students assigned hourlong move-in time slots throughout the week, Stange said Tuesday the process has gone smoothly so far. At ISU, Provost Jonathan Wickert said his campus is ready to welcome back not just one first-year class but — as he sees it — two.

“We'll have the class that just finished high school and is entering Iowa State as new direct-from-high-school freshmen,” Wickert said Tuesday. “But we'll also have our returning second-year students, and their experience last year was disrupted by the pandemic.

“Even our juniors really only had one or one-and-a-half normal semesters on campus back in the fall of 2019,” he said. “So we know that these students and these families are very much looking forward to a college experience that helps them thrive, not only academically, but also personally and socially.”

To that end, ISU is pitching a largely in-person experience, with some hybrid options still available. Although none of the campuses are requesting or tallying student vaccine information, ISU officials Tuesday reported broad compliance with mask recommendations so far and said they’re tapping peer mentors to set an example.

“Yesterday we had peer mentor training for over 200 peer mentors on campus, and they were so excited to be back,” Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Toyia Younger told reporters. “They walked into the auditorium, and the majority of them had on masks, and they were happy, they were engaging with friends that they had not seen in a while.”

Still, Thielen Student Health Center Director Erin Baldwin said, ISU recognizes “everybody has an individual perspective and opinion about all of the different public health strategies and vaccine and masking. So we really ask people to have open and respectful conversations.”

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com