Ohio State rolls out the scarlet carpet as Move-In week gets underway

Student life is returning to The Ohio State University as Move-In week gets underway on the Columbus and regional campuses.

President Kristina M. Johnson and Senior Vice President for Student Life Melissa Shivers braved wet weather to welcome students and their families Monday morning. They talked to students about their hopes for the new academic year, thanked them for getting vaccinated and wished them well in the new semester.

This year, the Move-In process will occur over six days leading up to the beginning of the autumn semester. Residence hall openings are staggered to ensure a limited number of students move onto each floor of each building at a time. The goal is to allow for physical distancing throughout the entire process.

“This is an exciting time on campus,” said Student Life’s Dave Isaacs as he held open doors for students and their parents pushing big red carts full of their belongings into Smith-Steeb Hall. “There is always a great deal of anticipation as we get the new academic year underway, and rolling out the scarlet carpet to welcome everyone is a rewarding way to help get things started.”

For students and their families, the traditions of Move-In week were on display: Red carts, students and staff making sure everyone gets to the right place, and parents dropping off their kids and saying good-bye are the order of the day.

For Indya Negron, a second-year health sciences major, Move-In was a smooth experience. Negron had an opportunity to speak to Johnson as she was preparing to head to her residence hall room.

“We talked about welcoming me. We talked about me and my family and how excited I am to move in today,” she said.

The university has implemented several safety protocols to help keep students safe as the new semester begins. These include testing before arrival, testing upon arrival for students who will be on campus for any reason this fall on all campuses, and weekly testing for unvaccinated students.

Additionally, students, faculty, staff and visitors to all Ohio State campuses and medical facilities are required to wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. Masks continue to be required outdoors for unvaccinated individuals when they cannot maintain physical distancing. Vaccinated people are not required to mask outdoors.