Two students at Saint Augustine's College in Raleigh, N.C., were recently fined $150 each for sleeping through a fire alarm, causing students to complain about many other fines they feel are excessive. However, AU differs from Saint Augustine in that it AU does not fine students for not leaving the residence halls during a fire alarm, but instead files charges with the Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services Offices, said AU's South Campus Area Director Amber Lange in an e-mail.
Fire alarms went off 11 times last semester in the South side residence halls, however they have only gone off once so far this semester, Lange said.
Students from Saint Augustine's complained about the high price of fines and said they disapproved of being fined for staying inside during a fire alarm. Some students said they feel the excessive fining is one way the college seeks to get more money out of students and raise revenue, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Last spring, Jill Knapp, a sophomore in AU's College of Arts and Sciences, was in a similar situation. She had to go to a judiciary hearing because she also slept through a fire alarm. Knapp said she was asleep when the alarm when off and she was written up because she was late to evacuate the building.
Eventually the charges were dropped, but Knapp said she was given a hard time by members of the Judiciary Committee. Knapp said the committee "found it hard to believe that someone could sleep through the fire alarm."
Katrina Dix, director of communications at Saint Augustine, said in a phone interview the two students were fined for a "failure to exit" the dorms during the alarm. The students were found when resident directors and the fire department re-entered the building to search for missing students.
Dix said "students are aware of the procedure; it is posted in the dorms and in the student handbook." Although students are fined for such infractions, "the safety of students is a priority," she said.
AU has similar procedures when a fire alarm goes off. Students are required to leave the buildings and must wait to re-enter until "an all clear is given by the Housing Staff," Lange said in an e-mail.
"In 2004, during a real fire in Letts Hall, I woke up people in their beds as water from a sprinkler was overflowing into their room," Lange said.
Sleeping through the fire alarms, or choosing not to leave the building, "is very dangerous and we do not want anyone getting hurt," Lange said in an e-mail.
Lange said there are a few reasons for the decline in fire alarms this semester.
"It is no longer acceptable to students that fellow students are pulling alarms," Lange said.
Students have begun to come forward with information about these alarms, which helps with investigating who pulled false alarms. Lange also said "several of last semester's alarms were due to burnt food that was left unattended in the lounge."
"It is a known fact that the more times a false alarm is pulled, the number of students who evacuate becomes fewer and fewer," Lange said in an e-mail.
Housing and Dining Programs has taken steps to educate students on unattended burnt food, as well as on the dangers of not leaving during a fire alarm, she said.
