Disappointed UNC students are making tragic TikToks about their dorm rooms, bills, and roommates after campus housing closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks

• College students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill are using TikTok to vent their frustrations about the campus closing and switching to remote learning after just a week of classes.
• UNC-Chapel Hill reported four distinct COVID-19 clusters and a sharp rise in students testing positive within two weeks of students moving into dorms and off-campus housing.
• Showing off a newly decorated dorm room is a popular summer TikTok trend, but for this year's students, it's been repurposed as an ironic take on COVID-19 closures.
• Students are also using TikTok to complain about their classmates' parties and failure to social distance.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was one of the first colleges in the US to reopen with a hybrid plan that would allow students to live in dorms as usual. It quickly turned into a disaster, as the university reported 4 COVID-19 clusters within a week of classes starting, and had to move to remote learning.

Having lived in their freshly decorated dorm rooms for less than two weeks, frustrated UNC-Chapel Hill students expressed their discontent on TikTok, the app that has quickly become a favorite of Gen Z social media users.

Sharing a newly decorated dorm room has been an August and September trend on TikTok since the app exploded in popularity in 2018, transitioning away from a kid-driven lip-syncing platform and attracting a wider audience of teens and undergraduates.

This year, the move-in trend has taken on an ironic tone, as students showcase putting up all of their decor just to take it back down and move out of their dorms. UNC students have racked up hundreds of thousands of likes on the platform in the last week.

@marymilller01

laughing through the pain ##unc ##fyp ##dorm ##dormlife ##fail

♬ Still Don't Know My Name - Labrinth

Some UNC students posted their dorm room transformations as usual, just to make a video follow-up about how their decor "aged poorly" given the short-lived dorm reopening.

@mar.bev

can you tell what college we go to?? ##dormtransformation ##college ##dormlife ##unc ##chapelhill

♬ Electric Love - BØRNS

An elaborate UNC dorm room reveal was followed by a TikTok 12 days later that says "Hey, um, we're packing up our dorm room because we got sent home."

@mar.bev

Reply to @bellag.grace this didn’t age well✨

♬ original sound - mar.bev

A similar dorm room transformation posted by a UNC student got over 80,000 likes when it was published two weeks ago.

@charismaticblackgal

moved into my COLLEGE DORM WITH A WINDOW i’ve been without one since forever. dreams come true ##fyp ##unc ##dorm

♬ #violintransition - zachfromdisney

But Tuesday, the poster wrote "my college is kicking us out after a week," using the "you think you can hurt me?" TikTok meme format, which has been adopted as a way to share difficult past experiences.

@charismaticblackgal

@ charismastev is the insta ✨ ##nowindow ##ItStartsOnTikTok

♬ they tryna be fnaf - breh_herb

UNC students have other complaints about the campus closure

In addition to the dorm room transformations that are being packed up, some UNC students posted about their classmates' refusal to stop partying and adhere to social distance guidelines. One popular TikTok shows the creator's dorm-mates using a slip-n-slide in the rain.

@aneesa.s11

Did you know sliding thru detergent protects you from COVID-19 ##unc ##uncchapelhill ##fyp

♬ Circus - Music and Crowd Sound Effect - Hollywood Sound Effects

"We've been on campus for 2 weeks and they're sending us home," the video caption says, and the student overlayed circus music on top of the Snapchat footage.

Another TikTok is a compilation of clips of the slip-n-slide, as well as footage from UNC parties, with the caption "great job guys, we made it to national news in less than two weeks."

@bigheadsallyy

great job guys, we made it to NATIONAL NEWS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS ##unc

♬ original sound - bigheadsallyy

One UNC student used their TikTok to express frustration with the university's housing and meal plan cost, writing that "We have only been on campus for a week & they wait till the day that our bill was due to go home."

@jjamalp__

you might’ve had the right idea but the wrong ! ##RockinCollege ##ActionLines ##WhatsYourPower ##ArtLessons ##PerfectAsIAm ##unc ##greenscreen ##unc

♬ dont use if straight tiktok - militarnime

It's also not just UNC students hopping on the campus closure trend. One TikTok creator at a different college campus wrote "me getting my dorm room all set up as if im not going to be sent home in 3-4 business days because theres literally a pandemic and this isnt safe."

@brendanisugly

how long til i’m sent home leys hear what everyone has to say

♬ Ushy Gushy My Puthy - theythemtiddies

Another user wrote, "My whole fyp is college kids decorating their dorms during a pandemic [...] like pack it up,, oh wait you will in two weeks."

@down.to.clown

I’m sorry but I literally laugh at every one of their videos WHAT DO THEY THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN BAHAHSKSKSL ##college ##dorm ##dormtok ##dormlife ##unc

♬ original sound - teibabyy

Read more:

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