University also closes most buildings, tells residence students to move out
Ryerson capped a day of rapidly evolving responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by saying late Tuesday that, effective tomorrow, it is moving to an essential services only model on campus.
The move came just an hour after the university said it is ordering Ryerson students to leave their residence accommodations by next Monday.
And it followed an announcement earlier in the day that many campus facilities, including the Library Building, the SLC and several food service locations, would be closed.
Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi released a message on Tuesday detailing what the shift to essential services model entails.
According to the email, essential services are necessary facilities that are needed to ensure the health and safety of students, faculty and staff at Ryerson. In addition, these services are integral to maintain the infrastructure of the university, as well as provide administrative functions that are needed in the university.
These services are listed below:
- Community Safety and Security
- Computing and Communication Services
- Facilities Management and Development
- Medical Centre
- OneCard
- Shipping and Receiving
- SRC Activity in identified research labs
- Financial Services urgent payments and purchasing
The university initially released a message to community members of facilities that are still open, but this has swiftly changed. All other services and facilities will no longer be running until further notice. The services listed above are subject to change according to Lachemi.
Ryerson students will also no longer have access to campus buildings, unless approved in exceptional circumstances by security.
Lachemi also stated that students living in residence will have to move out and find alternative housing, as an added precaution against COVID-19. A few hours ago, students living in residence received an email from the university being notified that they need to move out immediately, as reported by The Ryersonian.
This decision comes after Premier Doug Ford announced a provincial state of emergency, which has ordered a lot of public facilities to close. Only essential businesses such as grocery stores will continue to operate.
Nathan Halnin was the audience engagement producer of The Ryersonian during the winter 2020 semester. He managed the social media profiles of the publication and was the media liaison to sources interested in connecting with the news site.