Pathfinder - Colorado College

Fairness

The community value of fairness is reflected in several policies that exist so that the department of residential life can work towards providing a quality experience for all of our students. The policies that reflect this value include agreement/deposit, keys, room assignments and changes, room care, and solicitation/posting.

Agreement/Deposit

By accepting admission to CC, students are agreeing to uphold the residential requirement at Colorado College.  The housing agreement is provided to explain the contractual relationship between the department and the student. By signing the agreement, students are accepting its terms for that semester/year.

The housing deposit is utilized for two purposes. First, the deposit serves to notify the department of a student’s intent to occupy a residential space. To maintain their deposit, students must meet the deadline to apply for senior off-campus status, as well as the deadlines to notify the college and the department of residential life if they intend to be abroad or take a leave of absence. These deadlines are published in official college publications each year.

The deposit also serves as a damage deposit, and will be billed against for room/apartment and common area damages. After the academic year, money left from a student’s damage deposit will be returned as long as the deadlines are met and damages have been assessed. The damage deposit will be billed against for all fines and charges assessed by residential life.

Keys

Students will be issued key(s) upon checking in at their front desk and are responsible for their key(s) until they turn them in when they are moving out of their assigned space. Students are expected to carry their keys at all times. Students are responsible for their key(s) and may not lend them to anyone else, including roommates/ apartment mates. Keys may not be duplicated. With the exception of maintenance or risk to safety situations, no student room or apartment will be unlocked to admit anyone except the specific student who is assigned to that room. For information about lock-out keys, refer to the Residential Life Procedures. If residential life staff learn that a key is lost/missing or if a key is not turned in by the date/time requested, a lock change will be ordered and charged to the student. If a student would like a lock changed outside of normal business hours, he/she may contact the RLC to request that service.

Room Assignments and Changes

Provisions

• Students are assigned to a space on a semester or yearly basis.
• Room changes are permitted so long as the room change process is followed. (See the Residential Life procedure section)
• Students may not assign or sublease a room/apartment or use it as anything other than a personal residence
• Students of different sexes may not be assigned to the same bedroom, unless they live within the gender neutral program.
• The department of residential life reserves the right to assign/reassign students or not assign rooms as needed to accomplish its mission for students.

Room Care

While we seek to help students find a way to create a sense of home in their residential space, we require that students limit that to decorations and belongings that will not damage the facility. Student rooms are also not intended to be used as art studios, music practice rooms, exercise facilities or in any other way that be harmful to the facility or the community.  It is also the responsibility of each student to report maintenance or facility concerns to his/her front desk as soon as they are noticed. As it is impossible to address every type of decoration or room issue, the following are provided as examples of this policy so students can understand how it applies:

• All furniture provided by the college must remain in the room to prevent damage from relocation.
• Any furniture brought in by a student must be free of infestation of bedbugs or other health hazards. Furniture purchased from a thrift store or furniture that may have been left outside is at risk of infestation and should not be brought into residential buildings. Due to the the extensive costs for cleaning and exterminating, and the high correlation between used furniture and bedbugs, students need to be aware that if they have used furniture and bedbugs are found in their room, they will incur any costs associated with pest removal and cleaning. This is a minimum of $300. If multiple bedbugs are found, students will need to remove any non-college furniture from their rooms. The department invests money each year to spray for bedbug prevention, but the best prevention is for students to not bring items into the communities that may be infested.  
• Furniture must meet applicable fire codes.
• Waterbeds or other heavy or extraordinary furniture is not permitted.
• Walls, furniture, and other room components may not be permanently altered, including dyeing draperies or painting walls.
• Students may not splice electrical wires or remove any outlet plates or light switches.
• All screens must remain in place.
• Items hung from the wall must be done so in a temporary way, so that no holes are put into the walls.
• False walls, lofts, and other potentially hazardous items may not be constructed or brought into rooms or apartments.

Students are responsible for the costs associated with consequences of violating this policy, such as life safety fines, laundry/extermination costs, and removal of furniture.

Solicitation/Posting

Solicitation is not permitted in the residence halls in any form. Posting of information is permitted only in two ways:

• Up to 55 fliers/small posters may be dropped off at the office of residential life on the first three Mondays of every block. These will be posted in the residential communities in common bulletin boards or other areas. If groups request this on a regular basis, they may be asked to provide funds to help with pushpins, staples, or other needs for posting costs.
• Public bulletin boards are available in Loomis, Slocum, and Mathias. Individuals and organizations may post items on those boards in accordance with campus posting policies. Students may inquire at the front desk or RLC office to learn about the locations of these bulletin boards. Items may be removed by hall staff on a blockly basis or if a flyer has expired.

Residential life staff reserve the right to remove anything that is not posted in accordance with the above.  Student organizations and students may request to staff an informational table in the lounge area during specific hours. Requests should be made to the RLC or the area coordinator one week in advance.