All lodge entrance doors are locked 24 hours per day, seven days per week for residents’ safety and the security of their belongings. The doors to each lodge are equipped with card access. Residents are responsible for their own cards and may not lend them to anyone for any reason.
Lost cards should be reported to the Office of Residence Life and Housing and Campus Card Services immediately. Students may also deactivate their CrimsonCard online on the under “Manage your ID Card”.
Residents of each lodge are allowed access by waving their University CrimsonCard in front of the gray card reader by each entry door. Students are only allowed access to their assigned lodge. In order to visit students in other lodges, residents and guests must be met at the door and stay with their host the entire time they are visiting. Residents are also allowed in other lodges during events and activities. A Residence Life and Housing staff member will allow those students access to the building, and students will have to sign in, and depart once the program is completed unless they are a guest of another resident.
Each apartment front door is equipped with a lock as is each bedroom door. Residents are encouraged to keep their bedroom doors locked at all times. Residents should always close and lock doors when they are not in their apartments. If a room door is observed to be open by a staff member, the door will be shut and the resident may be charged a lockout fee. This is to ensure the safety and security of all residents and their belongings.
Propping an exterior door puts the safety of all building occupants at risk. Additionally, opening a door for anyone who is not a resident of the building is dangerous and compromises the University’s security efforts. Residents who invite others into the building, whether they know the individual or not, will be held responsible for the actions of that person during their time in the lodge. Because of the security risks involved with propping exterior doors, students found propping a door will be subject to disciplinary action. Repeat violators may be subject to stronger disciplinary action.
Every ³Ô¹Ïtv student with a room assignment is issued a CrimsonCard that allows entrance into their lodge at all times. Students residing off campus do not have CrimsonCard access to the lodges. Per University policy, students are expected to carry their CrimsonCard at all times and to produce it if requested by University Police and any Residence Life and Housing staff member (including RAs). Residents who fail to produce their CrimsonCard when requested are subject to disciplinary action. Residents may also face disciplinary action if CrimsonCards are found in the possession of any other person to access the lodges.
Room and mailbox keys will be issued to a resident student upon arrival and registration. Keys are University property and may not be duplicated. Keys must be turned in when moving out of a lodge. There is a $10 charge for lost mailbox keys. Persons failing to return door keys will be charged the replacement fee for lost keys. The cost of each lock replacement is $70. This charge includes replacement of the lost key. Residents who think they can find a missing key within 24 hours may borrow a temporary key during business hours.
If a resident is locked out of his or her apartment or bedroom during business hours, he or she may borrow a temporary key from the office at no charge for the first time. The key must be returned immediately. Subsequent lockouts will result in a $10 lock-out charge per incident. If lockouts occur after business hours, residents should contact the RA on call for assistance. After midnight, residents should contact at (812) 941-2400.
Keys (and CrimsonCards) are only to be in the possession of the resident who was issued the keys at move-in. If anyone else is found to be in possession of University keys (and/or student or temporary housing CrimsonCard), both individuals will be subject to disciplinary action and potential loss of housing may occur depending on the situation/outcome.
³Ô¹Ïtv Residence Life and Housing believes firmly in the principle that students are entitled to privacy in their living quarters. At the same time, it recognizes that staff members may need to enter or inspect those premises from time to time for a variety of purposes. ³Ô¹Ïtv Residence Life and Housing believes in freedom for all residents (including student staff members) and their guests in moving about a lodge, in the corridors past open doors and, when appropriate, in student rooms. A clear distinction must be made between the more formal functions of search and inspection, and such unstructured activities as walking down a hall, visiting in a student room, or standing in an open doorway.
Search is narrowly defined as carefully going or looking through a room to find a specified object or examining the premises thoroughly for a particular concealed object. It is conducted only under conditions of some seriousness. Entry into a room for such a search will only be undertaken by University Police. Whenever possible, the resident of the room should be present.
Inspection has to do with efforts to maintain the physical well-being of a building, its contents, and its residents to assure hygienic conditions, to determine presence or absence of room furnishings, to ascertain general room conditions at the beginning and end of a term, and to determine or repair maintenance-related issues. It does not seek to discover hidden objects located where the resident might have a legitimate expectation of privacy. If, in connection with such proper activities, contraband articles are found or evidence of activities in violation of University policy should be discovered, action appropriate to the specific circumstances may be taken. (For example, drug paraphernalia lying on a desk would be addressed by a police officer or a chair from a lounge would be returned.)
The natural and unstructured activities of a residence hall might bring information to the attention of a staff member by way of loud conversation from within a room, easily heard in the next room, or by a passerby in the hall. Nothing within the principle of respect for privacy of residents should prevent staff use of, or response to, information obtained in this way. (This does not condone snooping since this is detrimental to the human relationships of dignity and fair play which should characterize an educational community.)
Inherent in the above is the idea that closed rooms will be inspected or searched only for the most specific reasons. ³Ô¹Ïtv Residence Life and Housing does not condone any “fishing expedition’’ or random entering of students’ rooms. At the same time, however, nothing in this policy should be taken as preventing staff members from entering rooms in cases of emergency (e.g., sounds of loud screaming coming from a room or smoke billowing out from under a door, etc.), to enforce University policy when there is specific reason to suspect a violation or, for example, to enhance the livability of the environment by requesting that a stereo be turned down.
The principle of student privacy is hereby reaffirmed while recognizing that there may be needs for staff members to enter student rooms or to respond to certain specific situations and to maintain institutional policies. Further, all residents, including those who are members of the residence hall staff, must be comfortable and free to move about their place of residence. For the staff to do less would not only restrict their freedom but also limit their opportunities to serve other residents. Considerable limitations and safeguards are imposed in order to avoid serious invasion of privacy.
These procedural safeguards are as follows:
- Students, student staff, members of the administration, and service staffs may go freely about their business in the lodges, may enter student rooms when doors are open, and may enter closed rooms for specific and proper reasons. As a matter of courtesy, staff members will knock, and identify themselves, before opening closed doors and, when possible, will receive an invitation to enter before doing so. In the event the room is locked and there is good reason for Residence Life and Housing staff to address the behavior taking place in a room, a professional staff member or the administrator on call has the right and authority to key into a student’s room in order to address the behavior or emergency that has prompted their action.
- Inspection of rooms, as already noted, may be conducted for a variety of reasons, most of them based on clearly seen needs and on good common sense. Those of a non-routine nature, particularly those which seek highly visible items are controlled by more restrictive procedures. Inspections for hygienic, maintenance, pest control, and similar purposes do not require authorization but entry must be for this purpose only.
- Search of rooms for specified and possibly concealed objects is permissible only under the most restrictive procedures. The search (for each case and for each room to be searched) must be conducted by a University Police Officer with an affidavit for probable cause. Unannounced searches are permissible, but the resident should be present if possible; reasonable attempts to find the resident may be made before the search is conducted.
The University is committed to providing a safe living environment that promotes community while ensuring the privacy that students want and need. The University is also committed to maintaining building security. Door-to-door selling or soliciting is prohibited in University housing facilities. Any resident who is approached by a salesperson near the lodges should contact the Office of Residence Life and Housing, the RA on call, or the University Police immediately. Such individuals are considered trespassers and may be subject to arrest. Residents of campus housing and recognized student organizations may obtain permission from the Office of Residence Life and Housing to sell merchandise or services in the lodges. Such activities must conform to campus policies and may not be in conflict with State Board of Health regulations or University contract agreements.
Firearms and/or weapons of any type, including concealed weapons for which the carrier has a legal permit, are strictly prohibited in residential facilities on campus. Weapons include, but are not limited to, firearms, air soft guns, BB guns, knives, bows and arrows, paintball guns, martial arts weapons, or any item, regardless of designed use, that is brandished as a weapon or used in a threatening manner, or any item that approximately resembles a weapon. Weapons may be confiscated and disposed of by University Police.