From: "Steinberg, Brian C." <BSteinbe@taz.sdsmt.edu>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 13:06:36 -0700

Greetings from SDSM&T:

At SDSM&T we had very "friendly" residents from two residence hall rooms across from each other, in one of our first year student residence halls, ask if they could combine their two rooms together so that one room was used for sleeping (all 4 residents, 2 from each room) and the other would be used for studying, socializing and "hanging out."  Has anyone else allowed this situation?  Does anyone have a policy against this arrangement?  What are some of the concerns allowing students from different rooms to do this?  We are currently looking at any fire safety codes.  Here is some of the contract rules we are thinking of imposing if we allow residents to do this:

a) Res Life retains the right to terminate the arrangement for any
reason at any time.

b) The arrangement may be terminated at anytime by any party to it.

c) If any participant(s) move from either room, creating a vacancy(ies),and any new occupant(s) assigned do not accept the arrangement, it is dissolved.

d) All participants share joint liability for damages in both rooms.

e) Both rooms will be restored to configuration at time of occupancy.

f) Both rooms used in any arrangement of this type must in same
building/same wing, preferably adjacent or across from one another.

Thanks!

Brian C. Steinberg  M.A.
Assistant Director of Residence Life for Programs
March-Dake Hall Director
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
501 E. St. Joseph Street,  Rapid City, SD 57701
Office Phone: 605-394-2349   Fax: 605-394-2914
 

Brian --
Here at UF, we would not allow students to do this.
My immediate concerns would be the disruption to the community brought on by one "quieter than normal room" and one "louder than normal". Not to mention the administrative nightmare of having 4 students accountable for two rooms. (damages and phone number listings are two that I can think of immediately).

To my ear, this has trouble written all over it.
Good Luck!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathy Bush Schnolis
Assistant Director of Housing for Residence Life
University of Florida
P.O. Box 112100
Gainesville, Florida 32612
office: (352) 392-6051 fax: (352) 392-6819
email: kathysc@housing.ufl.edu
 

We have had this exact situation occur before! Students like the idea of one sleeping room and one party room. However, our rules state that ALL college furniture must remain in the room at all times. Therefore, moving all the beds to one room is not allowed. After a few nights of sleeping on the floor, most students have decided to either return to their original room, or apply for some room changes so that they could be with the person they preferred if it was not their original roommate. The furniture issue has worked well for us. We also have a policy on the books stating that guests may not spend more than three consecutive nights in a friend's room.  So that is another policy we can fall back on to discourage this behavior.
I would definitely check into your fire codes before you do anything like this. Since in effect you are allowing four residents to reside in a room meant for two.
 

Hi,

At a residence hall I was at previously, we had suites where a main entrance door went into a common area with two bedrooms and a bathroom.  Most of the residents used it that way, as two bedrooms, but occassionally four girls would use it in the way you described.  When they came to us with that, we simply created a suitemate contract with the parameters you have mentioned, and let them go.  We honestly never had any problems and those rooms seemed to have less roommate conflicts because you didn't always have someone making noise when someone else was tryingto sleep.....  good luck.

Melinda Farmer
Asst. Director for Student Life
Johnson & Wales University
Norfolk, VA

Brian,

  We allow students in our suite style buildings to do this within the
suite. The suites are set up such that two rooms are connected by a bath.  We have several students which put all 4 beds in one room and use the other as a living room.  The restrictions we have are that we can at any time ask them to put the furniture back in the correct room.  The only time that I think we would do this was if they were below occupancy and we moved someone in there.  At the end of the year, we require all furniture to be in the proper place.  During room sign-ups, we designate about 1/3 of the suites as "4 person" rooms, i.e. you need 4 people to sign up for the suite - 2 in each room.  As opposed to the other rooms, which two people sign in one room and hours later two people will sign up as their suitemates.

We do not allow students though to move the beds across the hall, etc.  All the furniture must stay in the suite.

Let me know if you have questions or if I can be of further assistance.

Mike
 

Mike Rosolino
Director of Residence Life
Presbyterian College
503 South Broad Street  phone: 1-800-476-7272
Clinton, SC  29325   fax: 864-833-8516
 

From: "Joanne Goldwater" <jagoldwater@osprey.smcm.edu>
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 09:50:14 -0500

We had a similar request a couple of years ago.  We did not permit them
to house four students in one room in order to create a "hang out" room
in the other.  Our students are required to reside in the rooms to which they are assigned.  College-owned furniture is to remain in the room in which it was originally located and is not to be moved to other
locations.  We did not want to create a "party" room.

Joanne Goldwater
Assistant Dean for Residential Life
St. Mary's College of MD

--

From: Ava Jean Fiebig <FIEBIG@ADMIN.XU.EDU>
Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 08:53:26 -0500

We follow the policy that you plan to adopt.  It works well and behavior problems usually cease if the double rooms are directed to return to the original occupancy.  It can take time on the part of the HD, but student appreciate the flexibility we offer in this situation.

--

From: "Michael R. Olson" <Olson@uwyo.edu>
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 17:26:59 -0700

Brian, we have done this and your guidelines seem to cover it well,
better than we had.  The experiments worked out okay.
 

Hey Brian!

I am just getting around to read some of my Housing Discussion e-mail.  As for your question, I have had students in the past at SDSM&T do this.  It was up on Dake 3rd floor the second year we had guys there.  They came to me and wanted it to become the "floor lounge".  I made it very clear to the residents assigned to that particular room that any damage would in fact rest with them, and it would not be a community damage.  I also informed them that they would also share in any damages to thier new sleeping room as well.  In retrospect I would have put it in writing and place in their files, but I took them for their word and it worked out okay.  I also was very direct with the RA and the residents that because it was to be considered as "Floor lounge" that it would be open at ALL times and the RA would make routine inspections of the room, to confirm no violations(Alcohol, fire, or health and safety) were present.

No keys were ever issued out to any other residents than the ones assigned to the room and no additinal room keys were issued out for the "sleeping rooms".

History is repeating itself.  Good Luck with it!
 

Hi Brian

At several places I've been at students have tried
this.  I've never been at a place that has allowed
it.  The first concern that comes to mind is
safety.  This encourages them to not lock the
doors to their rooms, so that all four can have
access to both rooms.  It makes it very easy for
some one to go in and take something.  Also, there
are the fire concerns, as some fire departments
don't look highly on this.  We have a rule here
that states that no furniture can be removed from
any room, so this would be a violation of that.
But it sounds like you might make accomidations
for that.  Several offices get antsy here at the
thought of not knowing exactly where the furniture
is all of the time.  While we don't have a clear
policy directly against this, this policy would
make it unable to happen.

I hope this helps.  Looks like you have thought
through some of the pieces.  Let me know if you
have any other questions.

Good luck!
Paige Durkee
Assistant Director of Residence Life
North Central College
30 N Brainard St
Naperville, IL  60566
630.637.5861 (O)
630.637.5905 (F)
padurkee@noctrl.edu

Brian,

We do this for single rooms in only one of our halls. The primary reason for this was this hall is very inexpensive and has no air conditioning. Things get a little toasty in OK and one of the best ways to keep cool is to have the rooms across from each other open their windows and their doors. We also did it as an incentive for people to live their. To help them feel a little more special. They have no internet, no cable and no air. Lots of heat though, year round. :)

They work out an agreement between the two and follow the general
stipulations suggested, we can terminate at any time, no abuse regarding social situations and guests, etc. We have had few problems that I have heard of (in my area, but not my hall) and not that many students take us up on it. Just a few each year. We have nothing published. The contracts are worked out on an individual basis with the RA's HD and Coordinator.

Let me know if you need more info.

:) Sharon

Sharon Stead
Residence Halls Coordinator
Oklahoma State University
101 Kerr Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078-2065
405-744-6794 (phone)
405-744-6775 (fax)

"We know what we are, but know not what we may become."
William Shakespeare

Brian-

I ran across this situation this year at Simpson.  I think you have some pretty good rules laid out for them-hence the reason for the personal reply rather than to the whole list.  So far our situation has worked out well.  If you have any questions, let me know.

steve anderson