Contraband: Resident assistants required to record what they see, smell, hear
Continued from page 1
illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia.
In the five complexes, 445 residents were
documented for alcohol violations in fall 2004,
and 198 residents were documented for inci
dents involving marijuana. However, the per
cent of residence hall incidents in which stu
dents were actually convicted of the
documented violation is unknown, according
to University Housing.
RAs are responsible for maintaining
a healthy environment in their halls, Carson
saia, ana oaiancing rules witn tne
long-term safety and attitude of a
hall sometimes requires RAs to
use their discretion.
University junior Michelle Rose,
an RA at Barnhart for 2003-04, said
RAs are supposed to write up
students they believe have been
drinking alcohol and then let them
go. She said the process ignores
student-safety issues.
“It’s not about their safety,” Rose
said. “It’s about writing them up.”
Rose and Carson said the policy
could deter students from coming
home when they’ve been drink
ing, because they want to avoid a
housing violation and the $15
fee resulting from a visit with a
complex director.
“Housing is basically saying if
you’re going to drink, do it some
where else,” Carson said, “which
could include someone walking
or driving somewhere else when
it might not be safe. ”
“I’d rather have them come back
drunk than have to stay the night
somewhere where they don’t want
to,” Rose said. “It’s a decision they
shouldn’t have to make.”
Barnhart and Riley Complex Di
rector Stephen Jenkins said the
problem doesn’t rest in a student’s
decision of whether to come home
after drinking.
“The bad decision didn’t come
as to whether they should come
home or not,” Jenkins said. “The
poor decision was made when
they chose to get so intoxicated
they weren’t able to be safe
somewnere or teel sate coming back to the
residence halls.”
Director of Residence Life Sandy Schoonover
said many students who come home drinking
don’t get written up by their RAs.
“There are many students who come
home, who are intoxicated and go im
mediately to their rooms to go to bed,”
Schoonover said. “The residents who
come home, who are intoxicated and are
noisy, who are belligerent or who are
creating damage in the residence halls,
those are typically the ones who end up
being documented.”
A current RA, who asked not to be
named because of his contract with
umvtriMiy nuuMiig, sciiu
the documentation process
is subjective.
“There are rules,” the RA
said, “but there are so many
interpretations of those rules.
Residents sign a contract that
is supposed to be specific, but
it isn’t specific.”
He said what constitutes
a noise violation to RAs
varies, with some resi
dents getting docu
mented for watch
ing television too
loud, while others
get away with
hosting parties.
Former RAs Carson
and Rose agreed.
“It’s not enforced equally
across the board,” Carson said.
“Some RAs will write you up for
anything. There really isn’t a
whole lot of consistency.”
“I had two write-ups,” Rose
said. “Some people have 30.”
University freshman and Barn
hart resident Brian Shen said he’s
noticed a discrepancy in the way
residence hall rules are enforced.
Some residents are singled
out as “problems,” he said,
leading to more focus on their
rooms and more write-ups.
In addition, the punishments
vary, but not according to the
violation, he said.
“There will be drunk girls run
ning across the hall, but I get a
knock on my door,” Shen said.
“When people are drinking, com
piex directors say you re guilty Dy association,
so we should all get written up.”
But in a recent incident in which people
were drinking, some of the students received
only noise violations, while he was cit
ed for six different violations, he said.
In addition, he said he has had to take
multiple classes for receiving alcohol
violations, while other people usually
take just one.
Jenkins said the RAs don’t actually
determine whether a violation has
occurred in their halls.
“We don’t ask RAs to determine
whether someone has been drinking,”
Jenkins said. “We ask them to
record what they see,
smell or hear. ”
Rose said the
write-ups she gave
occurred when she
was doing rounds in
the residence halls, walking through
the halls to make sure things were
quiet and secure.
RAs typically do
two rounds each
night, Schoonover
said. Rose and
Carson said Barnhart
typically has three or four.
Jenkins said the number
of rounds is determined by
individual complex directors,
based on residents’ concerns
and on previous hall problems.
“To be honest with you, I don’t have a
formula,” Jenkins said, adding that different
complexes have different needs.
Once documented for a
possible violation, the judi
cial process a student goes
through also relies
on discretion.
“We try to
treat each stu
dent on a
c a s e - b y
case basis,”
said Chris
Loschiavo,
the director
of Student Ju
dicial Affairs. He
said if a complex director or judicial officer
determines a student is responsible for a spe
cific incident, he or she chooses a punishment
based on what he or she believes the student
needs to learn from the situation.
Rose said she was concerned the process
wasn’t consistent or clear enough for students.
She said RAs go through residents’ rooms
several times a year. Residents are notified
when this will happen, but they may not real
ize they can be documented for violations
during these routine checks, she said.
“I honestly don’t think they understand their
rights,” Rose said. “If students did know we
were going through their rooms, there would
n’t be so many write-ups. They’re paying rent.
They did sign a contract, but it’s their home for
that year. ”
Schoonover said
students “benefit”
when written up
for violations based on
evidence that was gathered without
a right to search, because the violation
is dropped in such circumstances. For
instance, RAs can look in students’ refrigera
tors to check for perishable items during sea
sonal room checks, but they cannot open a re
frigerator to look for alcohol without a
student’s permission when dealing with
potential rule violations.
“University Housing wants students to un
derstand their rights in the residence hall sys
tem,” Schoonover said. “Students’ constitution
al rights do not stop when they enter a
residence hall.”
Schoonover said University Housing has
to “weigh the concerns that we have for an
individual as well as our concerns for
the community.”
“We have more than one student to think
about,” Schoonover said. “In a floor or in a hall,
we have anywhere from 30 to 60 students that
we have to think about. We have to make those
decisions based on that.”
In addition, the number of complaints
the housing department receives
about noise and alcohol in the res
idence halls from residents and
their parents outweighs the number
of students who get documented for
violations, she said.
Rose and Carson said students
will likely continue to drink regard
less of the rules, and University Hous
ing should consider helping them do it
more safely.
“If you’re a parent, you’d much rather
know they’re drinking safely and that they
have a place to go back to that’s safe,” Rose
said. “And we’re not providing that.”
karahansen @ daily emerald, com
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