Nittany Lion Inn to Be Used for Classrooms, Housing; Eastview Terrace to Serve as Isolation Space

Penn State’s Nittany Lion Inn will remain closed to guests this fall, but it will no longer be used as isolation space for student COVID-19 cases.

Instead, the university-owned hotel’s guest rooms will serve as single-occupancy student housing and other spaces at the Inn will be used as additional classrooms, the university announced on Thursday.

Last month, President Eric Barron said the Inn would be used as isolation space, but now some buildings in the Eastview Terrace residence area will serve that purpose.

Penn State spokesman Wyatt DuBois said the university is still evaluating which of Eastview’s seven residence halls would be designated for isolation, ‘but entire buildings will be utilized to keep isolated students separate from others.’

Eastview normally houses 800 students, providing each resident with a single room and private bath

DuBois did not say how many of the Inn’s 233 guest rooms would serve as student residences. According to the Penn State Housing website, resident assistants will be on-site and the front desk will offer student support services, including mail, cleaning supplies and board games.

‘The Housing Assignment Office is continuing to work on room assignments, including those in the Inn, and will release assignments on July 28,’ DuBois said. ‘For students who are affected by the change at Eastview, Housing will be contacting individual students directly about options for on-campus housing.’

The Inn’s conference and meeting rooms provide extra space to accommodate social distancing, one of the university’s challenges in returning to classrooms in-person this fall.

When plans to close the Inn were announced last month, Barron said it would result in the layoff of 79 employees, though the university was looking to find them alternative work.

DuBois did not specify how many employees would still be subject to layoff with the change to using the Inn as housing and classroom space.

‘While the university is looking for alternative work for displaced employees in Housing and Food Services, using the hotel as a classroom and housing space will still result in layoffs for some hotel employees,’ he said.