Residence hall access is restricted 24 hours per day via a card access system. Residents are provided access to the hall they live in via their student identification card at the designated entrances. Guests are given access to the building by the resident they are visiting, and the resident is responsible for the guest while they are in the building. University policy states all employees, contractors, and vendors shall display university identification when in an occupied residence hall.
All exterior doors to the residence halls are locked 24 hours a day. The main entrances to each building are equipped with card readers, which residents can use to gain access to the building. All other entrances are alarmed and set for delayed egress, which will deny the ability to exit the building unless the emergency egress glass is broken or the fire alarm system has released the doors.
Residents must provide access to the building for their guests, and applicable guest policies must be followed. Each main entrance also is monitored through video camera surveillance. Additional cameras are placed throughout common areas of the facilities, such as laundry, kitchen, and study lounges.
Doors in the residence halls are equipped with a standard lock and key system. The windows are equipped with screens and will lock in place. Ground-level resident rooms have security screens installed on their windows.
During vacations and other low-occupancy periods from late August to mid-May, most residence halls are vacated by residents and are locked and secured. During these low-occupancy periods, entrance to the occupied residence halls is restricted via the card access system to only those students approved to stay on campus. University police officers patrol and check the buildings during these periods.
University housing is primarily for full-time registered students. Special arrangements may be made for part-time students with the permission of the Director of Housing and Residence Life or the Assistant VP of Student Affairs.
Students are permitted to host guests in their residence hall rooms. Every guest is subject to university rules and regulations, and guests are the responsibility of the resident host. The university reserves the right to deny access to any person who presents a threat to the peace, safety, and welfare of other residents.
The university does not permit cohabitation or patterns of extended visitation in the residence halls or apartment complexes. All guests must follow proper registration and check-in procedures as prescribed by the appropriate staff. Overnight guests are permitted to visit and stay in university-owned and affiliated housing for defined periods of time, but the rights of the roommate take precedence in issues involving a guest. Patterns of visitation, which interfere with the rights, privileges or privacy of any resident student will not be tolerated and may subject the host to university judicial action.
Each hall has a live-in residence director (RD) who oversees all operational aspects of that hall/complex. All halls/complexes have student resident assistants (RAs) living on each floor or in each apartment building and a student desk assistant who remains at the hall main desk during various hours, seven days a week. The entire Residence Life staff of approximately 120 persons receives varying levels of training on evacuation procedures, security procedures and policies, crisis intervention, confrontation, alcohol and drug abuse, and responding to emergency situations.
At the beginning of each semester during new student orientation, students are informed of housing security and enforcement procedures by Department of Public Safety personnel. Department of Public Safety personnel also participate in Residence Life staff training. Throughout the academic year, the Crime Prevention Specialist, along with other police officers, conducts crime prevention and safety seminars in the residence halls. Residence directors (RDs) conduct hall meetings with students during the first week of each semester regarding security issues, and additionally, resident assistants (RAs) conduct periodic resident floor meetings to inform students of campus policies and procedures.
College Park Commons is an apartment complex owned and controlled by the SU Foundation. It is located reasonably contiguous to the University campus. Each apartment building requires key access. Guests are provided access by tenants.