I'm a college student myself, but I don't live in a dorm yet and the character in the novel I'm writing does. So I was wondering if people check the dorm rooms periodically(for drugs, pets, etc.) and if a roommate can just move to another room without filling any forms or letting the RA know and get away with it. It's probably different for many colleges, but a general consensus or different examples from some of you would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
They did when I was in the dorm. Of course that was several years ago at a private, religious-based college.
I guess it would depend on the school. Mine did not check on rooms at all. Certain things were banned on the floor and in rooms, but were only enforced if someone was foolish enough to display them in front of dorm security. Even then, beer in bottles (but not cans) was banned on floor but everyone brought six packs with them to the lounge during the NHL playoffs without recourse. As for changing rooms/guests- you could have guests, but for no more than 7 total nights per term. You could not change rooms without going through the official process which included paperwork.
Dorm rooms cannot be searched without a search warrant, which required probable cause (in the USA). As for swapping dorm rooms without permission, that can usually get youkicked out of dorm space, but some schools may be more inclined than others to turn the other way. The odds of getting caught are very high -- all it takes is one person with a grudge to abnonymously inform campus security or the college staff.
In my school, we signed contract, part of which included allowing the RAs to check our bathrooms every month or two, but they always informed us ahead of time. Any other reason to search the room would need hard evidence and probably a warrant. As for changing rooms, you do need to make a formal request.
They check rooms where I am - UK university. About once every three months or so. The odd thing is they choose to slip warnings under your door at very early hours of the morning, very sinister.
They've done that too! I remember thinking it was one of my flatmates trying to break in and then swearing at them profusely. Whoops. They were pretty understanding about it though.
Anyone who tries to wake up a college student more than twenty minutes before class starts in insane.
When I first got into University, my dorm had a head of "house". Although the people from the Univeristy would do regular room inspections every fornight. They had a clipboard, and were making notes, such as clean carpets, bed made, no dust etc etc. I got a citation for putting a can of air freshner in the minifridge LMAO.
It all depends on where your at. My college likes to protect the students so we basically get away with some things and are basically completely screwed if we break other rules/laws. Freshman year(I'm from US) I was on the first floor of the dorm and there was always empty cases of beer or bottles, cans or liquor and we never actually got in trouble, we were just told to try and hide it. As far as the room thing goes, during our long breaks like winter and spring break the college goes into the rooms to do a 'security' check, which is basically making sure everything is turned off and even if people left stuff out they didn't get in trouble for it for the most part. As far as switching rooms, I had a friend who never slept in her assigned room. She basically lived with her boyfriend the entire year and never got in trouble for it. For the most part from talking to friends most places you can get away with quite a few things.
