City Vista closed to residents for 2021-22 academic year

Trinity offering resources to affected students after sudden announcement

This week, the university announced that City Vista apartments will be closed to all residents for approximately 12 months beginning May 24. Students who registered for housing in CV have had their housing offers revoked for the 2021-22 academic year and have been advised to seek other housing opportunities.

The Trinity community was informed of this decision on April 29 in an email from Sheryl Tynes, Vice
President for Student Life, and Gary Logan, Vice President for Finance and Administration.

Ever since the inclement winter storm in February that resulted in flooding and infrastructural damage to the building, Facilities Services has been working to repair the building. According to Tynes, the Facilities team has determined that “extensive renovations to the fire suppression system and exterior of the building are necessary to prevent a recurrence of such problems.”

Many students inquired as to why they were not informed of the decision until after the housing registration process was complete and while students are trying to wrap up their semester. “It would have been nice to get an email a few months ago that was like ‘Hey, we’re worried about this but we’re keeping an eye on it and we’ll let you know updates,’ instead of completely getting blindsided and letting us know ‘Hey, by the way, you don’t have anywhere to live next year,’” said junior psychology major Mona Mirpour, who was supposed to live in City Vista in the fall.

According to Tess Coody-Anders, Vice President for Strategic Communications and Marketing, Residential Life learned of the decision this week, which is when students were notified.

“Residential Life learned of the decision this week, basically at the same time as the rest of us, and immediately began communication with affected students. Until last week, Facilities had hoped they would be able to tackle renovations in phases, with students in residence. However, new inspections revealed that the issues with the fire suppression system and exterior of the building are too extensive, and could make living at City Vista next year unmanageable.”

Students also questioned why they would not be able to remain in City Vista and have Facilities Services work around them. The university maintains that the extensive repairs would make living in City Vista too inconvenient for residents.

“Unfortunately, the nature of the repairs means that every apartment will be affected. Water will need to be turned off. The construction will be loud and invasive, and not conducive to anyone living in the community,” said Coody-Anders

Trinity is doing all that it can to support affected students, according to Senior Strategist and Project Manager for Strategic Communications and Marketing, Michelle Bartonico.

“As soon as the decision was made, a cross-functional team was put together including residential life, student life, dean of students, student financial services, facilities, communication, and ITS. It is never easy to deliver terrible news, but I do feel that the team moved quickly and as efficiently as possible to balance providing a level of transparency with details (though these are still developing).”

The university will have limited options for students to live on-campus, and all others must seek off-campus housing. Affected students are requested to let the university know of their plans by submitting their responses to a 2021-22 housing form by June 1.

Finding new housing is the biggest concern for affected students. According to Mirpour, “I guess my main concern is where do I start with looking for housing, because, I mean everyone will be looking for housing right now. So do I look for a place on-campus or around campus, or will those already be taken and will I have to spend a lot more money because I’m looking for somewhere?”

Trinity is seeking to mitigate these concerns by providing students with housing resources, including resources for packing, moving, storage and finding apartments.

Residential Life’s goal is to work closely with residents to deal with their needs and to help ease stress during this sudden transition. “From support with moving and storing belongings to searching for another apartment, Residential Life will work one-on-one with impacted current residents to mitigate any financial impact to students and their families,” said Bartonico.

The university will host a Q&A session for all impacted residents next week via Zoom. Students may submit questions ahead of time using the form link included in Tynes’ announcement email.