This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. April 7.
IU will offer Briscoe Quad for medical workers to rest between shifts or quarantine away from their families in the coming weeks, according to a Tuesday email from RPS to Briscoe residents. All belongings that remain in Briscoe rooms will be moved to Eigenmann Hall, and essential items can be directly shipped to students.
Since students have been asked not to return to campus due to a statewide stay-at-home order, the university has hired Soft Touch Moving to box up items left in Briscoe to a clean, secure location in Eigenmann Hall, according to the email. The boxes will be labeled by tower name and room number. Roommates’ items will be packed together.
IU spokesperson Chuck Carney said the packing process will begin this week and rooms will start being available for medical workers early next week. IU Health will facilitate medical workers’ use of Briscoe.
If Briscoe residents have left essential items in their rooms such as medication or a passport, they should fill out this form by 5 p.m. Wednesday, and those items will be shipped directly to them. The process for students picking up their items will depend on future public health guidelines, according to the email.
“What we’re doing right now is offering this as a way to provide a service to the state and the community and help protect people who are doing the hard work on the front lines, and that’s our health care workers,” Carney said.
Carney said the University Tower at IU Purdue University-Indianapolis is also being used to house medical workers, especially due to its proximity to the IU School of Medicine.
He said there are no plans to offer other IU-Bloomington residence halls to medical workers at this time.
