Dear Students,

The university has decreased the density in our campus residences by, among other steps, assigning one first-year student per room; however, a central feature of the first-year experience at Vanderbilt is having an opportunity to live on The Ingram Commons. To achieve this for all first-year students, while maintaining the university’s focus on the health and safety of the campus community, students will participate in “The Flip” at the end of the fall semester.

Students currently living in the Towers and Branscomb Quad (Lupton, Scales, Stapleton and Vaughn) will be moving to The Ingram Commons, and students currently living on The Ingram Commons will be moving to the Towers or Branscomb Quad. The Flip will give all first-year students a chance to live on The Ingram Commons while maintaining single rooms for these students. Spring housing assignments will be released in late October. 

In anticipation of The Flip, students will begin to receive communications regularly that provide information about what to expect and directions about necessary preparations for The Flip. Some initial general information about The Flip follows.

• First-year students will continue to be housed one student per room.
• Each student’s house affiliation will remain the same (i.e., if a student currently lives in Towers and is affiliated with Hank Ingram, the student will be assigned to Hank Ingram for the spring).
• Students will be moved in clusters so that they will continue to reside with at least some of the students they lived near in the fall; special requests cannot be accommodated.
• North House residents will not participate in The Flip. This is due solely to the fact that the capacity of The Ingram Commons exceeds the capacity of Branscomb Quad and Towers. Removing North House from The Flip gives the university the numbers needed to execute The Flip between The Ingram Commons and main campus.
• Packing supplies will be provided and students will be required to pack their own items before departing at the end of the fall semester. Packed items will be moved to each student’s new space before their return in January. Students are expected to unpack their own belongings and set up their rooms by themselves; family members will not be permitted to enter residence halls to assist.
• Details for spring arrival will be available later this semester.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to navigate how best to provide all Vanderbilt students with a Commons residential experience in the midst of COVID-19.

See you on The Flip side!