USF mourns Amir Abdur-Rahim, women's basketball to face ranked foes and more.
To read more about men's basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim's legacy at USF
and women's basketball international talents, click here.

USF will reopen in the wake of Hurricane Milton

Hurricane Milton hit the Tampa Bay area, forcing USF to close for a week. ORACLE PHOTO/ LILY FOX

USF will reopen this week with some stipulations after closing for Hurricane Milton.

The Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses will reopen Monday and the St. Pete campus will reopen Tuesday, according to a universitywide email sent out Sunday evening.

USF plans to fully reopen in-person classes by Oct. 21, according to the email.

Related: USF extends campus closures until at least Monday – The Oracle 

Here’s what you need to know for the upcoming week.

Classes

Classes will be held asynchronously on Monday, as previously announced, but how classes will be held the rest of the week will be up to professors.

As the university anticipates residual challenges caused by Hurricane Milton, professors can offer classes in-person, online synchronous or asynchronous. These options offer flexibility due to the “widespread impacts of this storm,” according to the email.

Students and staff who cannot get back to campus or still do not have power should reach out to instructors and supervisors as soon as possible, according to the university.

Housing

Residence halls at the Tampa campus reopened Sunday. ORACLE PHOTO/ LILY FOX

Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee dorms reopened Sunday, except for Juniper-Poplar Hall at the Tampa campus. 

There is no set reopening date for the hall, which has an electrical issue with the air conditioning, according to the email. Juniper-Poplar residents were encouraged to stay in a safe location off campus and an update on the dorm will be provided Monday.

St. Pete residence and dining halls will reopen at 10 a.m. Tuesday, except for Pelican Hall. The email did not state why. 

Building closures

Several Tampa campus buildings remain closed, including the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center, Yueling Center, other athletic buildings, Crosswinds Wesley Foundation and some areas of the Campus Recreation Center.

Mote Marine Labs in Sarasota is also closed.

The Campus Recreation Center (The Rec) was used earlier this week to house Juniper-Poplar residents who evacuated to Jennings Middle School.

Though The Rec and the WELL are closed, the FIT and FIT pool will reopen Monday from noon until 5 p.m., according to an Instagram post.

Related: Hurricane Milton forced USF students to evacuate campus: ‘Like a community’ – The Oracle 

At the St. Pete campus, the Science and Technology Building, Port Building and several others will remain closed.

Several buildings were also closed for an extended time as a result of flooding from Hurricane Helene.

The university also warned some buildings may have limited services and hours.

“Reopening will allow faculty and staff who don’t have power at home to work on campus as they are able to do so safely,” the university said in the email.

Over the weekend, USF opened the first floor of the Marshall Student Center to students and faculty seeking electricity and air conditioning. Around 80 students took advantage Sunday afternoon as several still face power outages at their off-campus apartments.

Over 250,000 people in Hillsborough County were facing power outages when USF sent the email Sunday, according to Power Outage.us.

Returning to campus 

As students and faculty return to campus this week, the university urged them to drive cautiously due to tree debris, dysfunctional traffic lights and flooding.

Related: PHOTOS: USF Tampa before and after Hurricane Milton – The Oracle 

After Hurricane Milton battered the Tampa Bay area as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday, Fowler Avenue and several parts of campus experienced flooding.

The university recommended taking I-75 to Fowler Avenue or Fletcher Avenue to get back to campus in an email sent to residents Saturday.

Monday’s reopening will mark the end of a week-long closure of the university. It’s the second time USF has had to close in two weeks due to “historic consecutive hurricanes,” according to the email.

Lily Belcher, Managing Editor

Lily Belcher is the managing editor for The Oracle. She's a mass communications and professional and technical communications double major. She started at The Oracle in summer 2023 as a correspondent and worked her way up to news editor. She has been freelancing for local newspapers for four years and hopes to write for a major newspaper following her graduation. Reach her at belcher20@usf.edu

Profile