Students look forward to breaks as a chance to get out of the books and say goodbye to Guilford for a while. However, the week leading up to breaks can be extremely stressful, especially the last minute room preparations that have us hiding candles and coffee pots, and running to dumpsters.

To ensure that students comply with health and safety measures, Campus Life conducts inspections during fall, winter, and spring breaks. A few of these measures include disposing of trash and recycling, cleaning dishes, unplugging appliances, and locking rooms and windows.

During the break periods, college personnel inspect each room to ensure compliance with health and safety standards as described in the Student Handbook. Failure to comply with these standards results in confiscation of illegal items, fines, and sometimes judicial charges.

Their requests seem tedious but are actually quite reasonable. If you leave trash to fester in a room over the span of a break, all kinds of pests will await your return.

It is important to turn off electrical appliances when they aren’t in use because voltage surges could turn them on or cause short circuits, especially since most of us tend to overload our circuits with too many plugs. By unplugging these appliances, we are also conserving energy and saving Guilford money.

I am sure that the Campus Life staff can think of more enjoyable ways to spend their breaks than inspecting the rooms of college students. However one of Guilford’s core values is community. Campus Life’s intent is not to be nosey, but rather to ensure the safety and well-being of our community.

“I think what’s important to keep in mind is that we don’t conduct checks to bust people, but for the health and safety of the community,” said Susanna Young, area coordinator for residence life who helps conduct these room checks. “Unfortunately we often come across policy violations that cannot be ignored because of safety and liability issues. We try to be transparent about our policies, which Campus Life e-mails to every residential student in break notices.”

Campus Life is only allowed to fine open violations and they are not permitted to search a room without probable cause.

These inspections aren’t an invasion of privacy. However, preparing for the inspections can be very inconvenient, reaching behind desks and dressers to unplug and then re-plug alarm clocks and such. Most students who find fault with the inspections have been fined for decorative candles, or other minor violations.

I suggest that in these situations, you conceal candles or decorative wine bottles since Campus Life will write you up even if the candle has never been lit or the label has been removed from the wine bottle now used to hold artificial flowers. With regards to being fined for issues such as dirty dishes or garbage, clean up after yourselves. Garbage and dirty dishes left in the room attract bugs, and deserve fines.

LaToya Thomas, a senior, was fined last year when one of her suitemates left dishes in the sink during a break. Thomas and her suitemates returned to find moldy dishes and a sanitation fine.

“I was mad that I had to pay because someone didn’t take care of their responsibilities,” Thomas said, “but there was no way for Campus Life to know whose dishes they belonged to, so we all got fined”.