The Student Advocacy Center distributed "The Before You Do Something Stupid, Read This Guide," a pamphlet outlining options and possible consequences when a student violates the Student Conduct Code or Residence Hall Regulations, to student mailboxes last week.
SAC planned to create a pamphlet at the beginning of the school year, but the distribution was delayed due to a long design and approval process, according to Jamie Rea, Student Confederation secretary.
SAC created the guide to help on-campus students make informed, intelligent choices when it comes to drugs, alcohol and intervention from a resident assistant, resident director or Public Safety officer. It also hopes to "debunk some of the myths and misconceptions that circulate on campus," according to the pamphlet.
SAC helps students with problems involving judicial affairs, student accounts, financial accounts, financial aid, campus housing and academic complaints. The pamphlet encourages students to utilize SAC if they get written up.
"The idea behind [the pamphlet] was that a lot of people don't realize what roles the RA, RD and Public Safety play in the dormitories," SAC Director James Gardner said. "Because of this, they get into worse trouble."
The pamphlet explained that RAs are allowed to key into student rooms with "prior notification or reasonable suspicion." Prior notification includes the times when RAs switch each room from heating to air conditioning and back.
Reasonable suspicion includes loud noise coming from a room or an alarm clock that goes off for a long time. Before entering, the RA must say "RA keying in." Once inside, RAs may report any visible violations of the conduct code, but cannot open refrigerators, closets or drawers.
RDs are a different story.
"In rare (like once in five years rare) instances, RDs can gain access to everything in your room, but only with the approval of their superiors," the pamphlet says.
Part of the pamphlet encourages students to respect authority. "Harassing an RA, RD or Public Safety officer, even if you have broken no other rule, can get you written up for willfully failing to comply with the directions of university officials," it says.
If an RA comes to your room and you don't want to open the door, you don't have to, but it means an RD or Public Safety officer with a spare key is on his or her way.
Some students said the pamphlet provided them with new information.
"I didn't know some of [the information provided in the pamphlet], like the thing about having candles even if they're not lit," said Rachel Schaengold, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Ultimately, Schaengold said she was glad this information was made available to students.
"Everybody has it written out right in front of them now so they can't say they didn't have it," she said, but she added that "it was a little extreme" in trying to make light of a heavy subject.
Andrea Bottorff, a sophomore in CAS and the School of Communications, said she appreciated the pamphlet.
"Even if I knew something that was in there, this is really good because it's showing us what our rights are," Bottorff said.
Josh Goodman, a freshman in the School of International Service, thought the pamphlet was not an accurate account of what the SAC does.
"Where were they when the RIAA showed up?" Goodman said, referring to the lawsuit involving four students and illegal downloading last year. "Communication is not the problem. It's action"
