AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON ACCOMMODATION AT THE DORMITORIES
The Rector of Comenius University met with the management of the largest dormitories at Ľudovít Štúr Campus-Mlyny and Družba as well as with the chairperson of the Committee for University Dormitories and Accommodation of the Comenius University Academic Senate (as a student representative) to discuss the current situation. This meeting took place due to the recent decision of the Rector on 27 March 2020 to change the summer semester timetable and the number of requests that have been received regarding the possibility of picking up personal belongings.
The Rector has decided to accommodate the wishes of the students and offer the possibility for them to formally check out of their dormitory in the first ten days of April. This checking out procedure will take place on the basis of a precisely specified timetable so that we adhere to the recommended maximum number of people in a building at any one time and will be according to current measures. The accommodated guests will have to comply with strict hygiene and safety rules such as wearing protective equipment (your own face masks and gloves), observing the spacing rules, and only moving in designated corridors. If possible, we recommend that you use car transport.
We advise students to check out entirely, as we do not expect to resume classes or examinations at the faculties by the end of the semester; the university bases this expectation on the information currently available from public authorities. The dormitories are not currently planning to provide summer accommodation. In the event of an extension of the emergency measures, the authorities may order that the dormitories be used for special purposes. Nothing specifically is currently being planned, but, given the developments in other countries, this cannot be ruled out.
We are aware that some people cannot check out for objective reasons. For this group, the Rector is offering a discount of 70% from May 2020, taking into account the limited possibility of using the rooms. It was also agreed at the meeting that the dormitories will not charge students any additional fees for cleaning or disinfection, nor will they be required to clean up their rooms. On the other hand, the dormitories will not be refunding a proportionate part of fees for the month of March.
Should classes at the faculties resume (which is not expected at this stage), the Rector guarantees that all students who checked out will have the opportunity to return to their original rooms. If someone (e.g. a roommate, parent, or acquaintance) wants to check someone else out on their behalf, this will be possible but only with officially certified authorization. The aim of this measure is not to introduce unnecessary bureaucracy but rather to protect people's personal items from being tampered with.
It is clear that this step will raise many questions which we cannot answer at the moment, and we will publish the exact procedure soon. The whole process is extremely complicated due to the size of the dormitories. We do think this is the best possible solution with regard to the information currently available. At the moment we cannot say when the dormitories will resume operations. Everything will depend on whether there is a relaxation of current measures or indeed a further restriction (e.g., in the form of travel bans). This will all depend on the development of the epidemiological situation and directives given by the authorities of the Slovak Republic.