COLUMBUS, Ohio — The campus of The Ohio State University will start to wake up this week. A new crop of Buckeyes start moving into dorms on Wednesday.
The Office of Student Life at Ohio State said the school typically expects about 14,000 students to move into the dorms during the move-in period, but they’re planning for more with the size of the incoming freshman class.
The university's Department of Public Safety is tasked with making sure the whole process goes safely. Officers with the university will be on campus patrolling and providing assistance to families moving in their students.
“This place isn’t the same without our students, so we’re really excited to have them back and get ready for a new semester,” said Lt. Joanna Shaul with Ohio State Police. “One or two extra freshman, or three or four even, doesn’t change much of our plan. We’re really confident in our staffing.”
Officers will be out in cruisers, on bikes and on foot patrol. They will also work with campus security and the Columbus Division of Police during move-in.
“We understand that it’s a nerve-wracking time for both students and their parents. If everyone takes a deep breath and just do what they would do at home, those rules still apply here,” she said.
University police are also expanding its off-campus partnership with Columbus police. Four specially marked CPD cruisers will be roaming around the neighborhoods surrounding Ohio State. Inside, there will be one Columbus officer and one Ohio State officer.
Shaul said this helps as older students transition to off-campus housing.
“For our OSU students, they recognize our OSU imagery so they recognize that that’s one of their cars with our people in it as well, hopefully to give them a little more comfort,” she said. “We see that we want students to have that familiarity and they’ve built that relationship with us after living on campus two years.”
That partnership previously was just two teams and has expanded to four.
“It’s just a way to show everybody how closely we are working together, literally shoulder to shoulder, in all of these safety ventures. It’s just a commitment, it’s an investment in the neighborhood. It’s important to all of us,” Lt. Shaul said.
While Freshman move-in officially begins Wednesday, early move-ins have already started.