Eastern President David Glassman is urging the campus community to fill out the 2020 Census.

In an email, Glassman stressed the importance of census data, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “the planning and development of health care facilities is just one important reason why participating in the U.S. Census is such a critical responsibility for us all.”

For students who live in an on-campus residence, they will not need to fill out a census packet and should not be counted elsewhere as Eastern has already given the Census Bureau statistics for on-campus residents.

This means parents should not count their students in their census packets if they live somewhere other than their home for the majority of the year.

Students living in off-campus housing will need to fill out the census packet with their Charleston address and should fill out as much information as they can for themselves and any roommates they have.

International students should fill out the census as they will live in the U.S. on Counting Day, which is April 1st.

If students leave some or any information blank, representatives from the Census Bureau may come to their house to ask for the missing information.

Questions will include names of individuals in the residence, gender, age and date of birth for example.

The News Staff can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].