Students affected by the flood in the East Residence Hall have taken to social media with their concerns and disappointment.
Eighth-floor resident Katerina Vatkin has been vocal on Instagram about her dissatisfaction with the lack of information provided to students by the university during and after the incident. “There has been a severe lack of communication and a level of unprofessionalism within every department. There is still an ongoing lack of clarity,” she wrote in a post. “I currently as a student have the obligation to attend class and get the best grades I can. This has not only been disrupted but completely changed at its foundation.”
The Office of Housing and Residential life sent out two emails to residents Feb. 9. The first, sent at 5:25 p.m. when students were attempting to secure belongings from their dorms, described the initial incident, the building’s closure and steps for students to secure accommodations for the night. The second email, sent at 6:53 p.m., detailed a schedule for shuttles to UMass Amherst’s Charles River campus, where some of the affected students are currently staying. The university has not excused affected students from classes, but urged “both faculty and students to provide one another with reasonable flexibility.”
Vatkin is one of several students who have made social media posts calling upon administrators and officials to improve. Seventh-floor resident Astro Jones wrote he was “so incredibly disappointed and upset” with the university’s handling of the situation. Jones was one of the many students without access to necessary medications and mobility aids.
“I’ve had to spend the last money in my account just to keep myself and my cat somewhat comfortable. Is this how you handle crises? Some students slept in the train station, or campus center. Personally, I slept in a conference room,” Jones wrote in an Instagram post Feb. 11.
This is not the first time students have questioned UMass Boston’s communication abilities. After the shooting report on Sept. 11, 2025, later debunked by authorities, students also criticized the administration’s lack of transparency. Vatkin mentioned this pattern in one of her posts. “Education for emergency situations and a better communication system needs to be implemented. This was a similar complaint from every student when the fabricated shooting had happened,” she wrote.
Resident Gianni Wilkinson, who is also on the seventh floor, described administrators’ communication as poor. “The school needs to do better because this isn’t the first time they provided limited information. And then I myself found out most information through Yik Yak and my friends who were still on campus,” she said.
There were also breakdowns in communication between UMass Boston officials and those at the Charles River campus, Vatkin said. “The director of that school … he goes, ‘UMass Boston told us there’s 50 of you coming.’ There’s three to four buses in total,” she said. “My headcount said there was about 45 on our bus alone.”
A petition started by resident Tyler Kinney aims to prevent future communication issues. “Twice in one school year, University of Massachusetts Boston has failed to effectively communicate with students during emergency situations, especially ones happening in the Residence Halls,” the petition states. “Students are still in the dark about what actually happened on September 11th, 2025. Most recently, on February 9th, 2026, the school left students in the dark for hours as to why the East Residence Hall was completely closed.”
“We UMB Students DEMAND that the University adopt clear and time-bound emergency communication protocols. What we’ve learned this year is that ANY communication (even one telling students that the cause of an issue is unclear or unknown) is better than leaving scared students in the dark,” the petition continues. Kinney recommended that the university collaborate with students to create better protocols for emergency situations.
Another petition calls for students affected by the flooding in the East Residence Hall to either receive refunds or not be required to pay for February housing. The Office of Housing and Residential Life sent out an email to affected students Feb. 12 at 11:07 a.m. stating that the on-campus housing bill “has been paused at this time.” A date has not been provided for when the OHRL is expecting payment, but the email does state that students will not incur late fees and that those with a recurring payment plan will still be charged on the withdraw date inputted.
According to the petition’s description, it “aims to bring attention to their [residents’] urgent need for support, whether it’s help with housing, financial aid, or replacing their lost essentials, so they can get back on their feet.”
Students in the Residence Halls have the option to opt into a monthly payment plan, meaning they pay a portion of their housing bill every month, usually on the 15th. Some residents have already paid for the year in full or are expecting excess financial aid transfers which will cover the cost of their housing once disbursed.
Since the residence hall closed, students have had to pay out of pocket for hotel rooms, new clothes, food and hygiene items. Twelfth-floor resident Peighton Jasper wrote on Instagram Feb. 11, “They didn’t even have enough essentials for their own students that were displaced. So I went out and spent my own money on essentials like a change of clothes, toiletries, and some food. And I grabbed my friends and we got another motel room, as at that point it was 7pm and many of us still didn’t have a place to sleep. This situation is utterly ridiculous.” Jasper and Vatkin have been helping their fellow residents by collecting donated clothing and toiletries and handing them out to students in need.
In addition to buying new essentials to replace the ones trapped in the dorms, students in the affected rooms have had items damaged or destroyed by flood water. Tenth-floor resident Sarah Jean-Baptiste said her boots, some clothes, her bedsheets and her rug, along with other items she stored under her bed, were “totally soaked.”
This article appeared in print on Page 5 of Volume LX, No. 10, published Feb. 16, 2025. Read our live coverage for more information as the story develops.