On March 16th after extending spring break by one week, Bloomsburg University announce its decision to deliver classes online for the remainder of the semester to help efforts in preventing the spread of the virus COVID-19. The University has mandated that students living on campus will have to move out and has strongly discouragedstudents living off campus from utilizing their housing. Honeysuckle Student Apartment’s also sent out an email stating:

“Out of safety and concern for students, Bloomsburg University has highly encouraged students to remain in the communities they are in now. Reconvening in the town of Bloomsburg will only increase the likelihood of someone, who unknowingly has the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing it to this community and thus negating the unprecedented actions to try and contain it. The University is asking that you return to Bloomsburg to only retrieve items to facilitate coursework online and then immediately return to the community you came from.”

Many residents and guarantors have already contacted the Honeysuckle Office requesting that we be released from our leases without paying early termination fees in addition to a refund being issued those who paid their rent in full. Upon reaching out to Honeysuckle it was brought to our attention that the body which has the official say in whether students are able to terminate our leases is Bloomsburg University’s Community Government Association.

We as residents and guarantors (parents/guardians) believe that we are entitled to terminate our leases early free of fees. The main purpose for our residence at Honeysuckle was to facilitate in-person instruction. The University‘s decision to move to online instruction illuminates the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus as it is a global pandemic. The University strongly discouraged students from returning to these apartments and Honeysuckle reiterated this message. In addition to this the University has cancelled all work-study programs resulting in many students scrambling to pay rent for apartments they’re discouraged from using. This decision will have an impact on the health & finances of the student and their families as well as the University’s image.

We urge the Community Government Association to make the right decision in the midst of a public health crisis which has already caused a financial burden to many students and their families.