EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University isn't requiring students to go home at the moment, but they are requiring students to let the school know what decision they make.
"I don't like that you have to say [whether] you're leaving or staying, and there's really no coming-and-going option," said Quinn McCoy, a sophomore at MSU. "So I have to put that I'm staying, even though I'm not, because I don't know what they're going to do with our rooms if we say that we're leaving."
Michigan State released a statement to FOX 47 saying students will be able to leave their belongings in their dorm rooms if they plan on coming back. Officials say of the 14,000 students who live on campus, only 2,000 of them plan to stay.
MSU's Deputy Spokesperson, Daniel Oslen, says common areas at the university will be disinfected every half hour, with dining halls shutting down for three hours each day for sanitizing. He says the cleaning process will begin at 4 am each morning before the halls open.
"It's super unusual," said David Kronberg. Kronberg is the father of an MSU student.
"I think it's a real moment in history. On the one hand, I'm glad that the university is putting my son and the students as a first priority, but what a disruption to education."
Students are having mixed reactions to the news of classes being canceled and having to decide where they're going to spend the next few weeks. Many say they were originally planning to stay, but changed their minds when they heard how many people were leaving.
"I was going to stay until at least St. Patrick's Day, but campus [life] would probably [stink] in about a week, so I don't want to be here anymore," said McCoy.
"I personally think everyone's kind of overreacting to it," said junior Luke Smith. "I know people are catching it and people are dying from it but I mean there are 12 confirmed cases in Michigan. I don't think that's that many."
Students say right now they're hoping the school eventually re-opens on-campus classes. For now, however, they're enjoying the time away.
"I don't think it's big enough to shut down the entire school, but I'm happy they did," Smith said.
Online classes have already started for some students. The remainder of online classes are set to begin Monday.
Michigan State says, as of Friday, classes will continue to be held online until April 20th. Whether they will resume in-person meetings after that hasn't been determined.
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