Thirteen rooms fail biannual inspections last month

Out of the nine residence halls and approximately 1,100 rooms on the University of South Dakota’s campus, 13 rooms failed biannual room inspections last month.

Associate Dean of Student Life Phil Covington said when CAs inspected the rooms, they searched for violations such as candles, things hanging from the ceilings, multiple power cords plugged into a single outlet and damages to the room.

Covington said while finding alcohol in the rooms is not the community advisers’ main objective during inspections, they addressed the issue.

“CAs aren’t opening doors, they’re not opening drawers, they’re not going through refrigerators, but if they walk in and there’s an alcohol container, then they have to document it,” Covington said.

Covington said CAs looked for general cleanliness when inspecting rooms. He said food trash is an issue in some cases and sometimes students have to be told to clean their dorm rooms.

“Food waste issues can attract pests such as bugs and mice and that can affect everyone on the floor,” Covington said.

CAs inspected rooms without residents present, but if an occupant wanted to be present during room inspections, they had the option.

“All students have the opportunity to set up an appointment so they are present for the inspection,” said Coyote Village Hall Director Tommy Rice.

Rice also said if students failed to meet inspection criteria, they would be subject to a series of reprimands. Upon encountering a minor violation such as lights hanging from a ceiling tile or a candle in a room, CAs gave the occupant 48 hours to fix the issue.

If the issue was not fixed or the CA encountered a major policy violation such as possession of alcohol, weapons or other illegal substances, they would then hand the problem over to Students Rights and Responsibilities.

If there is a major policy violation, then the consequences would fall on whomever had access to that area of the room.

“It depends where a violation is found,” Rice said.

In Coyote Village, policy violations in individual pods were the responsibility of the occupant of that bedroom, while in the traditional two-person dorms, the responsibility was both of the occupants.

If there was an issue, such as an alcohol violation, and no student claims responsibility, both occupants were held accountable.

Covington said that 13 rooms were documented with alleged policy violations and had been forwarded to Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Both Rice and Covington said the importance of room inspections is maintaining a safe environment for students.

“We have an obligation to students to make sure they’re living in a safe and secure environment,” says Covington.

First year James DeKay agreed with Covington and Rice.

“Room inspections are necessary,” he said. “It can prevent people from getting fined for damages since the CAs can tell you if something is wrong.”