Hollins University students are guaranteed certain rights by the constitution and the university. As in any society, rights come with responsibilities including respecting the rights, beliefs and feelings of others. All students bear responsibility for promoting a positive living and learning community. Students bear primary responsibility for seeing that their own and other students’ rights are not violated. The following statements outline students’ rights. Violation of these rights will be taken up by the university judicial system.

The Use of Residence Hall Rooms:

1. Each student has the right to use the room assigned to her by housing and residence life at any time during the academic year while the halls are open.

• Each student is entitled to a reasonably quiet atmosphere for academic success and peace of mind. Official quiet hours and penalties for violation are determined through a hall or floor majority vote. Enforcement is largely the responsibility of each student. Students who are disturbed by a violation of quiet hours and the resulting discomfort should make their feelings known to the individual causing the difficulty. If the problem continues, they can consult a HRL staff member and/or refer the matter to the university judicial system.
• Provided that their roommates' or hallmates' rights are respected, students may use their rooms for social or recreational purposes.
• Each student has the right of assigned occupancy. Students cannot exert pressure on roommates to move. Students who exert pressure on a particular student to seek a new room assignment may be reassigned to another room by the director of housing and residence life. The university reserves the right to make essential changes in room assignments at any time during the year.
• Residents have the right to require that no person, other than those assigned by housing and residence life, take up residence in their room. Residents, in cooperation with their roommate(s), have the right to coeducational visitation in the room during those hours determined by the community standards in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Student Handbook.

The Right to Privacy:

Students have a right to privacy in their rooms, but, under certain circumstances, the right to privacy is waived.

• Hollins University is required to follow all state, federal, and local laws. Adhering to these laws may supersede students’ rights to privacy in their rooms. While school is in session, students will be notified at least 24 hours in advance when university staff or representatives seek access to a student’s room, unless deemed an emergency. The resident will be permitted to be present. The 24-hour notice may be waived by the resident. A request for repairs waives this right. When university staff reasonably fear unlawful activity, harm to life, safety, health, or property, students’ rooms may be entered without notice.
• During break periods, university staff has the right (without advance notice) to enter student rooms for routine maintenance and inspection. When university staff have entered student rooms and find items that violate state, federal, or local laws, the items (including but not limited to firearms, fireworks, weapons, drug paraphernalia, illegal drugs, etc.) will be confiscated and given to the Campus Safety Department. University judicial and/or civil charges may be filed by university officials. Items that violate HRL policies may be confiscated and a notice will be left for the student. It is the student’s responsibility to follow up with her area supervisor regarding confiscated items. Violations of HRL policies may result in referral to the university judicial system.
• When there are sufficient grounds to believe that a theft of personal, university, or organizational property has occurred, the injured party should contact the Department of Campus Safety who may access the student’s room without notice. Sufficient grounds exist when, in a signed statement made in good faith, it is shown that:
  o  the signer saw in another person’s room an item of identical description to that stolen and had strong reason to believe that it either wasn’t there before the theft or that the item stolen was unique;
  o  the signer saw a person carrying an item of identical description at about the same time the theft purportedly took place. The search may be of a third party’s room only if the signer saw the alleged thief taking the item into another room;
  o  the signer saw a person, in the immediate vicinity where the theft took place, carrying a wrapped or covered item of the same size and bulk as that of the stolen property. The search may be of a third party’s room only if the signer saw the alleged thief taking the item into another room;
  o  there is other evidence submitted by the signer(s) that, in the eyes of the dean of students, director of housing and residence life and/or director of campus safety, is equally as strong as those cited above.
  
  

Privacy in Regard to Bathrooms: