northeastern university said it has dismissed 11 freshmen who allegedly violated coronavirus social distancing rules this week as students returned to campus for the fall semester officials said friday a pedestrian walks through the northeastern university campus in boston april 20 2020 more 16yearold arrested for hacking miami dade school system the students were among 818 nuin program students staying in twoperson rooms at the westin hotel in boston as part of a temporary housing plan the students all members of the universitys study abroad program known as nuin were caught gathering on wednesday at a temporary dormitory located about a mile away from the schools boston campus school officials said staff members who were on call and making rounds at the time said they discovered the students gathering without masks or social distancing a direct violation of the universitys health and safety protocols that ban crowded gatherings according to madeleine estabrook senior vice chancellor for student affairs at northeastern those people who do not follow the guidelines including wearing masks avoiding parties and other gatherings practicing healthy distancing washing your hands and getting tested are putting everyone else at risk together we can keep each other safe but it will require everyones consistent cooperation we must practice all of the public health guidelines in order to keep ourselves and the community healthy the 11 students and their parents were notified friday that they must vacate the campus within 24 hours the handbook also notifies students that they are not permitted to have guests or additional occupants in their bed spaces the school said adam glanzmanbloomberg via getty images students faculty and staff are required to undergo regular testing under northeasterns covid19 policy the special onesemester program is estimated to cost about 36500 according to the schools website the dismissed students will be permitted to return in the spring but they will not receive a refund cooperation and compliance with public health guidelines is absolutely essential estabrook said in a statement friday the program is an international experience for firstyear students that has been modified in response to the covid19 pandemic and now includes boston as one of the locations school officials said before departing they were required to undergo covid19 testing at the university with the understanding that anyone who tests positive will be moved into wellness housing at the university until they have recovered in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus the school said testing negative for covid19 is not enough estabrook said abc news brian hartman contributed to this report more democrats rope in college students to hammer trump on coronavirus response they were also required to acknowledge that they had reviewed the program handbook detailing the covid19 requirements at the beginning of the semester students were formally notified as recently as this week that they were required to practice physical distancing avoid crowds and wear masks in the presence of other people officials said