NEWS
Open sesame on students’ dorm rooms
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by Derek Montgomery
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Students living in dorms at Dartmouth College may be subject to unannounced searches of their rooms by campus police. The ruling by the New Hampshire Supreme Court said campus police officers may enter students’ dorm rooms in search of illegal drugs without a search warrant.
The ruling reverses a lower court’s decision giving student dorm rooms protection under constitutional laws.
The case hinged on the relationship between Dartmouth police and the police in Hanover, the city in which Dartmouth resides. The lower court ruled there was a “sufficient relationship between [Dartmouth Safety and Security] and the Hanover Police Department to apply constitutional restrictions to the search …”
However, the higher court’s ruling said DSS police acted independently of Hanover city police, and as such the search was lawful. The ruling said the college acted to enforce its drug policy. Searches by private officials on private property are illegal, while searches by state agents are protected under the Fourth Amendment.
However, some believe the ruling infringes too far on student rights.
“I find that outrageous. Why are students any different than citizens who are not students?” said Murray Fromson, a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California and self-identified “First Amendment fanatic.” “It just seems to me that a human being, a person that is either a student or non-student, should have certain unalienable rights and the right to privacy. It’s a violation of the Fourth Amendment,” he said.
Searches of University of Wisconsin dorms are restricted except under a few conditions.
The University Residence Hall Handbook states the acceptable conditions to enter a dormitory without a warrant include “responding to what they consider a serious life and/or health threatening emergency.” Other exceptions include retrieving UW Housing property, removing illegal pets, stopping disruptive music from devices such as a stereo or an alarm clock, and conducting non-emergency inspections and repairs.
One exception involving police officers states searches “done by police officers under their authority and responsibility for the purpose of investigation” are acceptable.
Ann Rice, the New Hampshire associate attorney general, told the Chronicle of Higher Education she was pleased with the decision.
“Our basic argument was that [the campus police] were acting to enforce the college’s policy against possession of drugs, and they were not acting with the knowledge of the Hanover Police Department,” Rice said. “If a student has agreed to living in the conditions of a dorm, then basically, students have agreed to that kind of search.”
