Because I no longer live on campus, I no longer have to deal with residential policy. This is the greatest feeling in the world. When you agree to live in a dorm, you agree to rent property from Guilford College. As it is the college’s property, room searches are legal according to state and federal law.

Every year, the school searches rooms over breaks on the pretenses of safety. Every year, the school invades the privacy of its students.

When a room is searched, whether the resident is present or not, the people performing the search rifle through dressers, desks, refrigerators, and closets. Personal bags may or may not be searched, depending on why the search was called in.

I understand that by signing the handbook, you agree to searches at any time. Just because it is written in the handbook does not make it right.

Student privacy needs stronger protection. If a student has done nothing wrong, stay out of their stuff. Period.

Residential Living Coordinator Kris Gray said that the majority of violations resulting from searches are related to safety issues: extension cords, candles, etc. She said one knife was found that constituted a dangerous weapon.

Students with candles or extension cords have no problem taking these items out of the room over break. However, students hesitate to take drugs or alcohol with them over break, especially if they have to fly. I suspect these are the real targets of searches.

Invasions of privacy aside, the school seems to create a disaster out of at least one search every year.

This year, Brennan James had his room searched over fall break. Campus Life confiscated a box of candles, a box of blank bullets, and a bottle of homeopathic herbs.

Campus Life did not realize that the candles were property of the Pagan Mysticism club. They were in the room because the club at seen their storage space taken away. James, a theatre studies major, had the bullets because they were a prop in a production. The herbs were confiscated on the suspicion they were narcotics. They were not.

Campus Life threw away all the confiscated materials. James has yet to receive reimbursement.

That was this year. Two years ago, security searched my room during spring break. They did not find any safety violations. They also did not lock the door when they were finished.

My laptop and my DVD collection were stolen. The school refused to admit liability. A member of Campus Life no longer at Guilford told me the thief must have snuck in through the window of my room on the second floor of Binford.

I have yet to receive reimbursement.

Guilford can legally search any room on campus at any time. This in no way means they should. The security benefits of such searches are few and not worth the complications that arise from inept searches or the violations of students’ privacy.

The only way to fix this is to change school policy. Either Campus Life has to step forward and claim responsibility for their mistakes, or the Student Senate needs to bring these issues to Campus Life.

Every year, I hear stories like these, about students who found things disturbed or missing as the result of searches over break. The problem is not getting any better. Someone needs to step forward and change school policy for the good of the students, their privacy, and their personal possessions.