Living In Your Room and Procedures
Appliances | Bicycles and Motorcycles | Cooking and Food | Elevators | Energy | Extension Cords | Heating and Cooling | Ironing | Open Flames | Personal Property | Safety, Health and Maintenance Checks | Smoke Detectors | Living Procedures
Since the electrical wiring and outlets in student rooms do not allow for extensive use of electrical appliances, there are certain appliances that are not allowed as use poses health, electrical, or fire risk. Appliances that CANNOT be used in student rooms include: hot plate, toaster, toaster oven, crock pot, electrical frying pan, deep fryer, ceiling fan, window fan, air conditioner, lava lamps, rice cookers, automatic coffee maker, space heater and halogen (quartz) lamps. Refrigerators, freezers, and microwaves are not permitted since TCU provides one MicroFridge unit per room (except Tom Brown/Pete Wright Apartment Community).
For safety reasons, motorcycles may not be brought into residence halls or student rooms. Bicycle racks are provided outside each hall, and there are protected designated areas in parking lots for motorcycles. Though space is limited, you may store your bicycle in your room. It must not interfere with entry and exits, and may not block any windows. Bicycle hooks may not be installed in student rooms. Illegally parked bicycles and motorcycles may be impounded. At the end of the school year, the TCU Police will impound abandoned bicycles.
Cooking should be done in the residence hall kitchen and not in your room. However, with small refrigerators and some appliances permitted in student rooms, students should be mindful that the presence of food in a room can contribute to the problem of roaches and ants. Do not leave food out in the open or unpackaged. When you throw something away, you should put it in the large, lined containers in the hallways where it will be removed daily. Again, it is the responsibility of every resident to keep the bug problem to a minimum. Food should not be disposed of by placing food in the drains of sinks. This causes the drains to stop up and creates an unnecessary and expensive maintenance charge. Students will be held responsible for these unnecessary charges.
Each student should act responsibly while using elevators. Failing to do so could result in disciplinary action with possible fines.
Approximately one-third of your room rent is spent on energy. This is the largest single expenditure of the Housing and Residence Life budget. It is very important that you do your part to keep our energy costs down as much as possible. Please make a conscious effort to turn off lights and other electrical equipment when not in use.
Because many residence hall fires occur as a result of poor wiring on appliances and overloaded "lamp cord" type extension cords inside individual rooms, only heavy-duty extension cords are allowed. These may be purchased at most hardware stores. Furthermore, extension cords with built-in circuit breakers are strongly recommended. Extension cords may not be run under carpets or looped over curtains or bedspreads. Since overloads will cause tripped circuit breakers or blown fuses, both of which interrupt service and could cause a fire, only four approved appliances are allowed per outlet.
Except for Brachman, Foster, Moncrief, Waits, Tom Brown/Pete Wright Apartment Community, Tomlinson, Moody, Frances Sadler, Martin Moore and Beckham/Shelburne halls that have individual room controls, heating and cooling in the residence halls is controlled from a central location on campus. Residence hall heating and cooling systems are not designed to allow heating and cooling equipment to be run at the same time. Therefore, if your building is being cooled, you cannot get heat regardless of where the thermostat is set. During periods of unseasonably hot or cold weather, approximately six to eight hours is required to switch modes. Every effort is made to anticipate the need to switch modes and make the change as quickly as possible. Please be patient and understand that the change cannot be made instantaneously. Use moderation when adjusting your thermostat and be aware that your thermostat may control more than one room. It is important that windows not be opened or vents blocked as this can upset the balance in several rooms. Keeping your blinds and drapes closed will help significantly in keeping your room cool. If your room is too hot or cold, contact your hall staff. When problems are reported, be specific about the problem.
Some halls have ironing rooms for your convenience. Students should not iron on the floor or the furniture due to potential damage to the carpet or furniture.
With safety of students in mind, it is prohibited to have any device that has an open flame in a student room (this includes but is not limited to candles, incense, oil lamps, etc.).
While we hope your stay at the University is free of any misfortune, you should be aware of the University's policy on loss, theft, or damage of your property. The University is not responsible for loss, theft, or damage of your belongings. For your protection, make sure that your parent's homeowners insurance policy covers your personal items in case of loss, damage, theft, water or fire damage both while on campus as well as in transit between home and campus. Remember, the security of your room is your responsibility. You may find it helpful to take the following precautions:
- Make a list of all your personal property including identifying serial number and the manufacturer.
- Record the number of all credit cards and checking accounts. Also, keep the addresses of these companies and banks so you can notify them if your cards are lost or stolen.
- Keep money and valuables in a secure place. Do not keep excess amounts of cash in your room.
- Consider leaving family heirlooms or other valuable items at home.
- Keep all windows locked at all times.
- Keep your room door locked at all times.
- Keep your valuables and clothes off the floors to avoid water damage, especially between the fall and spring semesters.
- In the event you are a victim of a theft, notify both a hall staff member and the TCU Police immediately.
Safety, Health and Maintenance Checks
During each semester, hall staff will visit each student room to be sure that no safety violations exist. There is one announced and three unannounced visits a year. These staff members will look for such violations as overloaded outlets, improper use of extension cords, and use of prohibited appliances. They will also look for any University policy violations as well as the presence of pets, unsanitary conditions, or extremely dirty rooms.
If violations are found, you will be asked to correct the problem within a certain period of time or be subject to disciplinary action. Your room will also be evaluated for repair and maintenance needs. The purpose of these checks is to guarantee the health, safety, and proper maintenance of the residence hall community.
With the exception of Brachman, Foster, Moncrief, Waits, Tom Brown/Pete Wright Apartment Community, Tomlinson, Moody, Frances Sadler, Martin Moore and Beckham/Shelburne halls, which utilize electric smoke detectors, each student room has a battery-operated smoke detector. Despite an annual cleaning and checking, these detectors occasionally require replacement of batteries. A slight "beeping" sound from the unit indicates a weak battery. In such cases notify your RA, HD or PC of the problem. Do not try to service these detectors yourself. Under no circumstances are you to remove the battery. A $100 fine will result should you disassemble a smoke director, whether electric or battery operated.