Yunzi Yi: Social distancing without her social circle
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
While the vast majority of Hofstra students have been able to return home to their families following the university’s abrupt closure, a few students still remain on the eerily desolate campus due to extenuating circumstances. Yunzi Yi, a sophomore mass media studies major, is one of those people.
“I’m not sure how long I’ll be here. I’ll be working here until this all stops,” she said.
An international student from China with an interest in fashion, Yi is one of Hofstra’s last remaining on-campus workers. While most residence, cleaning and dining staff have distanced themselves from campus, Yi works evening shifts at the Resident Safety Representative (RSR) booth in Vander Poel Hall. This job would normally see a lot of foot traffic as chatty students check in guests, but since the Office of Student Affairs’ order that students complete an “express checkout” by Sunday, March 22, she has seen fewer and fewer students each day.
Now, the entire 14-floor residence hall, which normally houses about 266 students of all class years and backgrounds, is nearly empty. The Resident Assistant office is closed and the laundry room, usually full of the whirs and clangs of washers and dryers, is deafeningly quiet.
“I traveled to Peru on Sunday, March 15, and because Peru shut down its border, I had to return to the United States on [Tuesday, March 17], just two days later,” she said.
Yi returned to find all non-essential campus services shut down and most students vacated.
“It took me two days to take the necessary flights and layovers. Once I got to the U.S., I kept on working here. I didn’t know what else to do. I can’t go back home to my country,” Yi said.
Though she misses her family, Yi is optimistic about the situation and expressed contentment with working on campus during the unexpected hiatus.
“The school is trying to do their best to protect workers working on campus. They gave us Lysol sprays and wet wipes,” she said, holding up a pair of cleaning products.
Across from the elevators, on Vander Poel Hall’s main bulletin board, checkout instructions and guidelines for proper handwashing are scattered between outdated posters advertising events and club meetings. Loneliness is often an unwelcome byproduct of social isolation, yet Yi isn’t too worried. She keeps in touch with friends and family digitally, which helps with the solitude, at least for the time being.
“Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about staying here but I also feel a bit nervous because of the coronavirus. The number of cases are going up each day. There is so much information going [around].”
Yi hopes the situation gets better soon. “I’m not sure if the government and hospitals have done enough to protect us from getting this coronavirus,” she said. Once classes resume after spring break, Yi hopes she can get back into somewhat of a routine. As students begin using Zoom to meet virtually with professors from the comfort of their homes, Yi will be one of just a handful of Hofstra students still using the university’s Wi-Fi, “eduroam,” to do so. For now, Hofstra is her only haven.
