UCF has placed two additional Greek houses under quarantine and university officials said this week’s random COVID-19 testing will be targeted at on-campus Greek residents.
Over the last three weeks, residents of five Greek houses have been placed under quarantine, Knight News has confirmed. Three sorority houses have recently completed their two-week quarantine.
After announcing plans to randomly select 100 students from the Greek community for targeted COVID-19 testing, Knight News has learned UCF selected only students who are members of an organization that have a house on-campus.
“All of the students selected in the first group are residents of on-campus fraternity or sorority houses,” UCF Chad Binette said in a Tuesday email.
UCF’s Greek community has 47 organizations and over 3,000 individuals, but only 13 organizations have houses on campus, according to UCF.
Is the random COVID-19 required if you are selected?
Binette said neither random testing nor decisions to quarantine are punitive actions — he said they are public health actions designed to help protect our campus community from additional spread of the virus.
Individuals who choose to not participate in UCF’s random COVID-19 testing are required to quarantine, but a report to student conduct will only be made if a student violates UCF’s quarantine directive, Binette said.
“Individuals can choose to quarantine on or off campus,” Binette said. “The reports would go to student conduct only in cases where someone violates quarantine – such as: attending on-campus classes, work, clinicals, practicums, internships or other activities while they are on quarantine.”
UCF sent its first wave of emails on Thursday to 100 Greek life students requiring participation in a COVID-19 test or the possibility of being turned in to student conduct.
On-campus housing
The campus master plan shows Greek-lettered houses have a total of 467 beds — these numbers do not reflect any occupancy changes made due to COVID-19.
For reference, the UCF campus master plan lists a total of 6,437 beds in on-campus housing, unaffiliated to Greek housing — these numbers do not reflect any occupancy changes made due to COVID-19.
Knight News previously reported the university reduced its on-campus housing by 484 beds due to COVID-19 safety precautions.
UCF initially said it planned to randomly sample of students who belong to Greek organizations, but did not state its plans to specifically target students affiliated with organizations that have an on-campus house.
“UCF is conducting random testing for COVID-19 because we care about our campus community’s health,” Binette said. “Random testing helps us identify people who test positive, allowing them to isolate, slowing the spread of the virus and protecting others.”
Binette said this week is the first of many rounds of random testing that will involve groups of students, faculty and staff.
Knight News is still awaiting public records to be produced, and is working to understand if it’s legal to target students based on their associations.
Greek houses under quarantine
Kappa Alpha Theta and Zeta Tau Alpha started a two-week quarantine on Sept. 4, and Alpha Epsilon Phi began its quarantine on Sept. 6, university officials confirmed. These organizations have completed their quarantine.
UCF said a total of 79 women live in the three houses, and a total of 16 of these women have tested positive.
Two students and two Greek organizations have been suspended and will go through UCF’s Office of Student Conduct for allegations of violating university policies pertaining to COVID-19.
Orange County Department of Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino said on Sept. 8 that at least two Greek houses have been placed under quarantine, but said it could be up to five houses.
Florida State University posted a similar update on Sept. 4 that was sent to faculty and staff that states individuals who do not comply with the testing invitation may have swipe card access revoked and face student conduct charges.
“While this message was not sent to students, information concerning possible student discipline was included in the message to address employee concerns about student non-compliance with public health guidance,” FSU spokesman Dennis Schnittker said.
He said FSU’s Sept. 14 update was emailed to all students, faculty and staff, and students may elect to not participate in the random program.
“Random sentinel testing is widely viewed by health experts as an important component in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 within a community,” Schnittker said. “Random sentinel testing of asymptomatic students, faculty and staff physically present on campus during the fall semester has been an important element of the university’s Fall 2020 Plan ….”
Schnittker said if students choose not to participate, FSU asks they not visit a campus facility for two weeks.
This is a developing story.
Check back with Knight News for updates.
