Fire Safety
At the start of the academic year every student is emailed the fire safety and evacuation memo specific for their particular residence hall. Each student should carefully review the memo and become familiar with the locations of the fire alarm pull stations, fire extinguishers, and fire exits in their residence hall.
When a fire alarm sounds in the building, all occupants of the building are required to evacuate the building in a swift but orderly manner. Biannual fire drills are conducted to assist students in learning what the fire alarms sound like and how to safely execute the information within the memo in the case of an actual emergency.
If a resident is in their room when an alarm sounds they should feel the door to the corridor before opening it. If the door is hot, keep it closed. Cover or stuff clothing in the cracks around the door. Take no unnecessary chances to get out of the room. Unless there is an immediate danger, it may be safer to remain where you are. Residents should hang a sheet out of their window to alert the Fire Department to their location.
If a resident must leave in heavy smoke, they should stay as close to the floor as possible. A wet cloth over their face may aid breathing.
Residents should never use the elevator when evacuating the building; they should proceed down the stairwells in as orderly a manner as possible, keeping calm.
If a student discovers a fire or a strong smell of smoke, they are to immediately pull the nearest fire alarm pull station. The Chicago Fire Department will respond immediately to all alarms. Upon exiting the building, the resident should find a staff member to report what they observed. This will help the Chicago Fire Department upon arrival.
An automatic fire sprinkler system is one of the most effective methods of controlling or suppressing a fire. Sprinkler systems are made up of a network of pipes in the walls and ceilings that have sprinkler heads providing protection to hallways, rooms, stairways and other areas of a building. Sometimes sprinklers are concealed behind small metal plates in the wall and ceiling. In most cases only one or two sprinkler heads open up in the case of an actual fire.
While sprinklers are very substantial devices, they should not be tampered with, misused, or vandalized. For example, coat hangers should not be hung from a sprinkler head because the hanger may accidentally strike the fusible link element or glass tube and cause the sprinkler head to open. In addition, if a sprinkler head is covered with clothing, this may reduce heat reaching the sprinkler and delay its opening. Throwing items in the air in the vicinity of sprinklers is also problematic as a frisbee or football knocking a head can cause the sprinkler head to open. A sprinkler head will generally flow up to 55 gallons of stagnant water per minute once triggered. Even if there is not a fire, the response time to turn off the flow of water could be 20 minutes or more. In cases, where a student has activated a sprinkler head through vandalism or carelessness, the student will be held financially responsible for the losses suffered by surrounding students and the repair work needed for the building.
Storage
There is no on-campus storage available. Students seeking storage options during the summer months, while studying abroad or while they are on a leave of absence or suspension, must make their own arrangements with a third-party vendor. We recommend students use our preferred storage vendor, U Storage, which offers a convenient, professional, and eco-friendly storage solution. Students are welcome to work with an alternative storage vendor of their choice, however U Storage is the only vendor whom is permitted vendor escorts for in-room pick-up and delivery. Students who chose another storage vendor are required to personally meet that vendor to pick up their items prior to their departure and must also make similar arrangements to meet the vendor to have their items delivered after moving in.
You are not allowed to store bicycles in your own room/apartment. Limited indoor bicycle storage is available in every residence hall.
All bicycles left in storage during residence hall closings must display a luggage tag (this does not count toward the 5 tags for trunk rooms). Bikes which are left outside or around the building, after the halls close, that are not registered or tagged will be considered abandoned and will be removed.
Bicycles which are locked to trees, handrails, fencing, or other inappropriate areas, will be cut off and removed.
We STRONGLY encourage students to register their bicycles with the University Police (UCPD) in case of theft.
Posting Policies
The only posters/flyers authorized to be posted on in-House bulletin boards or elsewhere within a House (other than those posted for House or Hall business) are those approved by a Recognized Student Organization (RSO). Each House has at least one bulletin board that is reserved for the Resident Staff of the House and RSOs may not post their posters/flyers on those boards. There are additional areas where posters/flyers may not be posted in the residence halls/Houses: inside stairwells, inside elevators or on elevator doors, and on student room doors unless the students in that room hang the poster/flyer on their own room door. Posters/flyers may not be hung using duct tape, nails, tacks, glue or any semi-permanent or permanent adhesive. Students must use “blue tape” for hanging signs as it typically does not damage surfaces. Damages that result from the posting of posters/flyers will be billed to the organization that sponsored the event. RSOs are asked to remove their posters/flyers from the residence halls/Houses after their event has occurred. Flyers and announcements may neither advertise nor refer to the availability of alcohol at a specified event. A posting will not be restricted unless it violates the law, falsely defames a specific individual, constitutes a genuine threat or harassment, unjustifiably invades substantial privacy or confidentiality interests, or is otherwise directly incompatible with the functioning of the University.
Door to door solicitation is not allowed. If resident staff members become aware of anyone going door to door to solicit students or to push commercial or other advertising materials under students’ doors, they will ask the individual(s) to leave, escorting those involved out of the building, and report the incident to their Assistant Director of Residence Life.
- Visit our central office (Campus North Residential Commons, 5550 S. University Avenue, Suite 110) with 48 copies of your flyer by Thursday at 4:00 PM.
- Allot time to stuff house envelopes.
- House envelopes are distributed to House mailboxes every Friday morning.
Discipline & Removal
The University safeguards the House communities through policies and procedures. On-campus residents are required to familiarize themselves with and abide by Housing & Residence Life Policies & Disciplinary Procedures.
Housing & Residence Life seeks to serve the educational objectives of the University by providing communities which further and enhance individual study. The Housing rules and regulations are intended to establish reasonable limits within which the greatest number of residents can work effectively and live pleasantly. These limits help to guarantee the basic rights of all residents to protection from behavior that creates excessive noise, endangers or disturbs other residents, or invites the intrusion of public authorities into Housing.