Over 350 USF St. Pete students displaced by storm

Most of the 352 University of South Florida St. Petersburg students displaced from their downtown dormitory during Hurricane Milton found temporary off-campus places to stay. However, 13 spend their nights on air mattresses in an open, coed ballroom.

Canela Vasquez started a change.org petition Oct. 14 to draw attention to their plight. She told the Catalyst there is “no privacy.” Students must walk across the street to shower at a gym with five stalls.

Vasquez, 20, said she and her colleagues pay $4,500 per semester to stay on-campus at the Pelican Apartments. The online petition, which has garnered 1,169 signatures in less than five days, also urges school leadership to provide compensation or accommodations of equal value.

Vasquez said Thursday afternoon that administrators repeatedly ignored pleas for reimbursement. About three hours later, Carrie O’Brion, interim chief of staff, sent a lengthy email stating that “residents displaced for an extended period due to damage in the building caused by a natural disaster will be receiving a credit on their housing – to be used in a future semester.”

“The amount of the credit will vary based on the room type and how long the room is unavailable due to the building damage,” she added.

Students who could not find another place to stay must shower at a gym. Many who left will return to campus this weekend.

The Pelican Apartments, or Residence Hall One (RHO), is at 500 2^nd St. S. The facility is about a quarter mile west of the Dali Museum and a quarter mile north of Bayboro Harbor.

Chancellor Christian Hardigree posted a video of the downtown campus under three to four feet of water after Hurricane Helene. Vasquez said the school evacuated RHO during that storm, and students had only returned home for four days when Milton set its sights on Tampa Bay.

Student residents – with roughly 12 hours notice – left nearly everything behind Monday, Oct. 7. An Oct. 13 email from housing officials stated that the Pelican Apartments would remain closed “for at least two weeks to make repairs from water impacts and ensure it is safe for you to return.”

“We cannot allow students into their rooms until repairs are complete,” the email continued. “That means you will not have access to your personal items during this time.”

O’Brion said late Thursday afternoon that staff “are working with students to retrieve essential items from their rooms, such as medication or materials for classes.” She noted that “water intrusion” did not damage student belongings, except for an area rug.

Vasquez, a junior, is a digital communications and multimedia journalism major. She said the university’s delayed response is “not enough” for her and many other students.

“Though I appreciate the school finally acknowledging that having a ballroom with air mattresses, with no financial compensation, isn’t good enough after four days of the petition, it still does not address many of the issues that we as students have brought up,” Vazquez said.

“This does not help students right now – who need aid now.”

Students staying in the ballroom receive three meals from the dining room. Vasquez said the school is not reimbursing those fortunate enough to find a place to stay off-campus – she is now living with a friend – for meal plan costs.

She explained that many students who live in RHO will graduate in December and cannot use future credits. O’Brion reiterated that the timeline for reopening is at least two weeks. Vasquez noted it “could be more.”

“If we are going to keep this campus open, they need to have a better emergency plan for situations like this,” Vasquez said. “Consistently, every year in the first semester of school, there is a hurricane, and students have to evacuate.”

USF St. Petersburg’s waterfront sets it apart from other campuses. It also poses a risk. Photo by Mark Parker.

Officials told students the building received water intrusion from the roof, and the school must replace some walls. Vasquez believes the number of students sleeping next to each other in an open ballroom typically used to host community events could increase as several will return to the area this weekend.

The $4,500 per semester in housing costs equals roughly $1,100 monthly. Vasquez said St. Petersburg students pay nearly double the amount of their counterparts in Tampa and Sarasota due to the downtown waterfront location.

She said their housing agreement stipulates that the school will provide temporary housing of equal value. “Last time I checked, an air mattress doesn’t cost $4,000.”

Vasquez noted that administrators have previously booked hotel rooms for displaced students. She realizes that is likely untenable due to the number of homes in the area that were damaged or destroyed during the recent storms; however, Vasquez believes students deserve “a full or partial refund.”

Many students who paid in-person tuition must now take virtual classes. Vasquez said online connections are spotty, and the education received is not as helpful. Campus classrooms are “pretty much empty.”

“I just got out of a class that usually has almost 20 people, and there were four people there,” she added. “The campus is very much desolate.”

Vasquez said the ballroom starkly contrasts independent living at the Pelican Apartments. She also believes RHO has longstanding structural issues.

Many students worried about mold before the recent storms. Vasquez said the exterior appears unscathed and wonders if the roof meets current hurricane regulations.

“This could have just been a result of the school’s negligence,” she said.

USFSP administrators declined to comment for this story Friday morning.