San Jose State opened its doors this week to house evacuated students and faculty members from the University of California, Santa Cruz after UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive declared a state of emergency Thursday.
The state of emergency states that the mountain communities surrounding UC Santa Cruz were forced to evacuate their homes “in the face of the fast-moving Lightning Complex Fire” which was ignited by a dry lightning storm Aug. 15.
“As of Monday . . . SJSU is providing housing for 43 students and two staff members from UCSC in the SJSU residence hall,” SJSU media relations specialist Robin McElhatton said in an email with the Spartan Daily.
She added that both universities reached an agreement in which costs for SJSU to provide this support would be covered and would not result in additional costs to any individual students from either university.
McElhatton said even though it is unknown at this time how long they will stay, SJSU anticipates getting additional UCSC students throughout the week.
“We’re always here to lend a helping hand,” SJSU stated in a Twitter post Saturday.
