Tufts students have always looked at their dorm rooms as their homes away from home. Within their rooms, they create a unique environment using posters, carpets, flags and sometimes, even fish. Many students, however, are unaware of where their right to privacy within their rooms stops and the University's right to intrude begins.
Administrators say that they do not violate students' private space, but rather, seek to serve students by intervening in "life-safety issues". This intervention includes investigating sudden shouts, crashes, or even a student living in a single who hasn't been seen in a while.
University officials leave it up to the person on the scene to decide when it is appropriate to enter a room. "It's all situational," Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) Director Yolanda King said. The University can enter when there are "issues concerning a student's safety."
Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) Captain Mark Keith said that the standards by which an officer may enter a room are flexible to the situation. If a TUPD officer smelled marijuana smoke outside of a room, it would not give him just cause to enter, but the officer will knock, Keith said. If there is no answer on the door, however, an officer may feel that something could be burning in the room, thus making it a "life-safety issue."
But Keith said that TUPD would not violate a student's privacy without reason. "Legally, we would view students' rooms as their private space," he said.
While a dorm room with an open door is considered public space, TUPD would obtain search warrants before entering a student's closed room, said Keith -unless there was reason to believe a felony was in progress or a student was in danger.
The Tufts license agreement is such that a student does not hold the same rights as a normal tenant. The relationship between students and the University is "not a typical landlord-tenant relationship," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. The arrangement is "not a lease" and is different in many ways, according to Reitman. The differences lie in the housing license which all students sign before being allowed to occupy their rooms.
The license states that "agents of the University may enter your room at any time" in an emergency, after a service request by yourself or any staff member, or with 24-hour notice. In the case of a service request a student has rescinded his or her right to privacy, but in the other two cases it is the University's decision to enter.
Residential Facilities Coordinator Jennifer Bevins said that the purpose of the facilities department is not to find evidence of student wrongdoing, but rather to maintain University property. "We consider your privacy important," she said. "My tradesmen are not looking to be a disciplining presence on campus." Bevins said, though, that if a facilities employee sees something that "could threaten the safety of a student," it will be reported.
One student spoke of how facilities entered her room to fix a heater without notifying her of their entry. "They should be able to come in the room, but let someone be there," she said. "Not that I don't trust them, but it's an issue of privacy and safety."
Students are not fully protected, however, as preventing a University official from entering could result in unspecified disciplinary action, despite the University's privacy policy. Under the regulations, students are not required to open their private space to University officials. This includes even TUPD officers, who cannot enter a dorm room without just cause or a search warrant.
One student, when made aware of University policy, found it acceptable. "It makes sense from the University's standpoint," senior Dan Hoagand said. It is "a pretty sound policy, all things considered."
