The Office of Residential Life’s mission is to provide a clean, safe and healthy living environment where students cultivate learning, civility, and respect.  With that goal in mind, these policies were created for all residential students and their guests.

By living in the Residences Halls and Houses, students are expected to abide by all Wheaton College and Residential Life policies.

The community’s residential experience as defined in our mission is our utmost concern.  We reserve the right to update and make changes to our policies when deemed necessary.

General Policies on this page

Room and Board Contract

The Room and Board Contract is a contractual agreement between a student and Wheaton College, which outlines responsibilities for the privilege of living in residence. Students are responsible for knowing, understanding, and being in compliance with the terms and conditions of this agreement, and all policies outlined in the Wheaton College Student Handbook.

The contract is signed online through our housing portal each year.

Behavior

Students may not engage in behavior which infringes on individual or group rights or which jeopardizes the health and safety of individuals and property. All residents must abide by the policies in the Room and Board Contract as well as regulations of the College, Federal, State and Municipal laws. Violations of these regulations may result in the termination of this contract and dismissal from the residence halls by the Assistant Dean of Residential Life or the Dean of Students. Student Conduct Review may also be taken by the College Hearing Board.

The Assistant Dean of Residential Life, in conjunction with the Dean of Students, may take appropriate action to protect the safety and well-being of the residence hall community and its members. This right includes the right to terminate the Room and Board Contract if it is determined that a student poses a threat to themselves or to others or is disruptive to the community. Requests for re-admission to residence must be made in writing and are subject to the approval of the Dean of Students and the Assistant Dean of Residential Life.

Guests

Students are responsible for their guests’ behavior at all times, including ensuring that guests comply with all Wheaton College policies, and assume the consequences for violations and/or damages incurred by their guests. Students may be subject to student conduct review by the College due to the behavior of their guests. All students share responsibility for maintaining a sense of community in their residence hall. This includes greeting and inquiring about anyone unfamiliar to them.

Arrangements for having visitors should be negotiated and mutually agreed upon by roommates. However, overnight guests may remain for a maximum of three days per week, and no more than six nights in a month, and only with the prior approval of the roommate.

To register an overnight guest, you must complete the guest registration form prior to the guest’s arrival. The form can be found on the Campus Life section of InsideWheaton under Housing Services. If your guest plans to park a vehicle on campus, you must bring your guest to Campus Safety to retrieve a temporary parking pass. Failure to register your guest, their vehicle, or abide by the other policies listed above will result in student conduct review.

Students may not have so many visitors as to exceed the capacity of a residence hall room at any given time. A residence hall room is considered at capacity when each resident has two visitors. Any person not officially assigned to live in the residence hall room in question is considered a visitor.

The intent of guest privileges is to allow for reasonable visitation by a resident’s friends, not long-term or live-in visitors. The College reserves the right to terminate an individual’s guest privileges. The Residential Life staff may be called upon to help resolve problems regarding guests.

Noise

All residence halls and houses have 24-hour courtesy hours. All students must consider the other residents and neighbors living nearby, and must honor the request of any resident or staff member when asked that noise (stereos, radios, TVs, loud talking, etc.) be quieted. This includes reasonable requests from members of the surrounding community. Repeated failure to respect the reasonable requests of others may result in a conduct meeting.

Quiet Hours

Sunday through Thursday, quiet hours begin at 11:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday quiet hours in all halls and houses begin at 2:00 a.m.

Pets

For the safety, health and well-being of all residents, pets are prohibited in all College residence halls and houses with the exception of small fish (in no more than a 10-gallon tank) and service animals. For more information regarding service animals please visit the Service Animals Policy page.

Right of Entry

The College respects a student’s right to privacy. However, the College reserves the right to enter Residence Hall and House rooms without the consent of the occupants, when it deems it necessary, in order to provide for the general well being and protection of the Wheaton Community, its members and property.

If an entry is determined essential, the occupants will be notified in advance when feasible. If the occupant is unavailable the room will be entered. Notification will be left by the entering administrator/officer that the room was entered, and the note will indicate the purpose of the entry. In addition, the Residential Life Staff conducts health and safety inspections each semester.

Students should be aware that if a room must be entered for the safety and well being of the community, any visible items that violate college policies will be confiscated and the residents may be subjected to disciplinary action for those violations. In the rare instance that the College has reason to believe there is an immediate threat to the well being of the community, or evidence of an egregious violation of college policy is apparent after the room has been entered, the Dean of Students or her designee may authorize an administrative search of the premises.

Furniture

Each room is supplied with a bed, desk and dresser for each resident as well as shared hanging clothes storage.  Due to the lack of available storage for unwanted furniture and to maintain proper inventory, all pieces must remain in the residence hall rooms they are assigned. Furniture can only be used for it’s designed purpose and must remain set-up at all times.  Lofts (not provided by the College) or lofting of beds on other furniture or by any other means is prohibited.

Damages

Each student is responsible for the care of College property in the rooms, facilities, lounges, public areas and the campus in general. Any resident who is responsible for damaging College property will be billed for the necessary repair work. Disciplinary action may also result.

All students assigned to a specific room are responsible for the physical condition of the assigned area. In addition, residents are responsible for any damages caused by their guest(s). Students may also be charged for damages and excessive cleaning. Students are expected to have their room inspected by hall staff and the inspection form signed to avoid any conflicts in the condition of the room upon leaving or at the end of a semester. All residents of a particular floor or building are responsible for the common areas within the building.

Hanging Items in Rooms

Items may not be tacked, screwed, nailed, bolted, or glued to the walls or woodwork in the residence halls/house. Any tape or other material used to hang items must be removed from walls when you move out of the room. Any cloth item (tapestries, flags, jerseys, etc.) cannot be hung on the walls. Curtains may be hung over windows only if they have NFPA 701 certification.

Maintenance Concerns

If students become aware of needed repairs, either in rooms, bathrooms, or other public areas, they should submit a work order.

Off-Campus Housing

Students are expected to live on campus all four years, but a limited number of petitions to live off-campus are accepted each year. This would include requests to Commute from a parent/guardians residents and also requests to live in an independently leased off-campus house or apartment.  More information can be found here: Living Off Campus.

Propping Doors

External doors to residence halls are locked to prevent entry by possibly unwanted individuals. Propping these doors open increases the risk of harm to the community and is a violation of policy.

Vacancies within a Room or Suite

All vacancies are considered as available space by the College and must be accessible to other students looking to change rooms.  Please go to the Room Vacancies page for more information.

Grill/Fire Pit Policy

Due to town ordinance, fire pits are not allowed and all open fires must have a permit from the town. We do permit grills. Charcoal grills and propane grills may be used in designated areas, no less than 40 feet from residential buildings, with the approval of the Office of Residential Life professional staff. Students must notify Campus Safety at the beginning and completion of their use each time, and they must responsibly tend to the grill at all times. Campus Safety and/or the Office of Residential Life has the right to extinguish a grill at any time. Use of flammable ignition liquids such as lighter fluid or other means is permissible within the current Wheaton College policies. Flammable substances may NOT be stored in or around residential halls or buildings

Bathrooms

All of the residence hall bathrooms at Wheaton are considered gender inclusive, which means that people of any gender or gender identity may use the facilities.

As you would expect, bathrooms within the residence halls are intended for the residents of their floor and their guests. This is an important point when considering our single sex floors where, for example, residents may have guests of a different gender using the bathroom facilities and other residents not expecting to encounter a different gender in that space.

We recommend that floors come together to discuss this if it presents as an issue within their community, and to develop a practice that remains consistent with our gender inclusive policy, but also is considerate of everyone’s comfort. For individuals who are looking to start this dialogue, please begin by talking with your RA.