On Thursday night, a letter from Florida A&M’s Dean of Students Bomani Spell announced a curfew for on-campus residents. The curfew, which went into effect on Friday, is from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays and midnight to 6 a.m. on weekends.
The letter cited large gatherings as the reason for the curfew: “The large impromptu and planned on and off-campus gatherings by FAMU Students blatantly violate our large gatherings and FAMU’s COVID-19 conduct enforcement procedures,” Spell said in the release.
Some have not seen any gatherings themselves, but they have heard about the various events around town. Vatrece Harris, a resident assistant in Polkinghorne Village East, is one of those people.
“I have heard of parties and club events that are still going on and people are not really enforcing wearing masks,” Harris said.
On social media, many FAMU students have been seen at local brunches, parties and club events at places like Bajas Beachclub without masks.
Harris said the curfew is necessary to ensure that students are staying safe. Other resident assistants also said that a curfew is necessary. Skylar Boone, a resident assistant in FAMU Towers South, thinks it could make a change.
“I think the curfew is the university’s way of trying to reduce the number of people testing positive. It might not seem like much, but it could make a difference,” Boone said.
This is the third time that on-campus residents have been placed on a curfew this academic year. The curfew was no surprise to resident assistant Dorrian Stringfellow, who works in FAMU Towers North.
“I knew that we would eventually get back on curfew based on the high traffic of people this semester. We accepted more residents than last semester and there have been issues with high visitation and low parking spaces,” Stringfellow said.
Enforcing a curfew like this requires a little additional work for resident assistants, but they will be following extra procedures to make sure that everyone is adhering to the curfew times.
“We have to go the extra mile to make sure all doors stay locked and that we aren’t mistakenly allowing visitors in the building. We have to do our job with an extra eye to make sure we do the job we are instructed,” Stringfellow said.
The announcement letter stated that the curfew will continue until further notice. Spell advised those with questions to contact his office at (850) 599-3183.