To the administration of Hunter College:

A few weeks ago, Hunter dormitory residents received notice of a new requirement for us to take a COVID test weekly, only at CUNY sites and on our own time (in contrast to the biweekly testing previously provided at the residence hall.) We understand the importance of this even with every single resident fully vaccinated, and will of course cooperate despite the inconvenience. However, we believe such frequent testing of our 100% vaccinated population permits easing the residence hall back into the social community it once was – and for our mental wellbeing, this change is necessary now. 

Indeed, while undoubtedly a privilege, living in the residence hall during COVID has been an extremely isolating, lonely experience with a heavy toll on our mental health. For a year and a half, we have not been allowed to enter anyone else’s room, host any guests, and prior to fall 2021, even socialize fully masked in a floor lounge. Even with that one restriction relaxed this year, the common areas remain coldly hostile to social life, with all couches removed (we’re told permanently) and decorations forbidden. RAs still cannot hold in-person events even with the most stringent precautions, so all programming is virtual and draws understandably abysmal attendance. We can't do much more than sit in our rooms alone. We know only a few of our neighbors and only through brief passing glances of the half of their faces we can see. 

Much has also been asked of us during this year and a half.

• Each of us moved in and out completely on our own with no help allowed – a task more difficult than it might seem.
• We tolerated months of filming at Brookdale, with often unmasked cast and crew members pouring into our building, restricting access to elevators and common spaces, while we still couldn’t even see a friend next door.
• We submitted to required testing every two weeks in fall 2020 -- spring 2021, thankfully provided at Brookdale.
• We have been vaccinated, boosted, and masked around the building even as Public Safety, Facilities staff, and university guests using the campus space sometimes aren't.

Now we are being asked to test twice as often, waiting on lines on our own time and limited by CUNY site availability, hours, and wait times. (Students already report test site staff advising them to test twice a week in case their campus access pass expires while awaiting a test result.) We will of course cooperate despite this inconvenience, but for the sake of our mental and social wellness, we now must ask for something, too.

We ask to be allowed guests at the residence hall subject to pre-pandemic visitation policies, with the safeguards of weekly testing for all residents and proof of vaccination from all guests. At the very least, we ask to finally be able to visit other residents’ rooms. We know how high the risk was in this communal setting before vaccination. Now we are not only vaccinated, but will quickly catch any breakthrough cases through this weekly testing. We do not ask for much, simply the chance to have something approaching a community. Several of our CUNY peers already allow visitation between housing units in their residence halls and City College allows outside guests with proof of vaccination. As New York and other states begin to relax pandemic restrictions, we are watching the world ease back into normalcy while we remain stuck in total lockdown. Please, hear us when we say that the small risk COVID poses to the physical health of our young, fully vaccinated community is far lower than the daily weight of these continued restrictions on our mental and social wellbeing.

Yours,

The residents of Hunter College’s Brookdale Campus