Residential Life and Housing Policies

No wires or other objects such as TV antennae or satellite dishes may be attached, hung, or placed outside any residential living unit/building.

Students who suspect they have bed bugs must immediately contact Campus Safety at 914.395.2222, and they will notify Campus Operations. Campus Operations will call the pest control company and schedule a room inspection as soon as possible. Health & Wellness will examine any bites to confirm whether they are indeed bed bug bites. In the event bed bug bites are confirmed, it is imperative that the affected room(s) are treated as soon as possible to prevent spreading. Once contacted, facilities staff will provide instructions on what must be done before the room(s) can be treated. To avoid additional work, it is strongly recommended that the student speak with a member of the Campus Operations  staff prior to washing linens or clothes, or before removing anything from the room(s). Before the College can treat the affected areas, the affected student(s) must follow the bed bug protocol provided by Campus Operations within 24 hours. Failure to do so will result in the student(s) forfeiting their housing for the remainder of the semester or year. Early and immediate intervention is the key to handling this pest problem, so never hesitate to call Campus Operations and have your room checked.

Students who have or think they have lice must go to Health & Wellness for a body and/or head check. Health & Wellness will conduct an examination and give the student(s) hair/body washing instructions and directions on how to clean and bag items in the room.

The College expects that student rooms, common areas, and bathrooms will be in the same condition when the student vacates the space as they were when the student moved in. Therefore, damage charges include a punitive fine as well as a charge to cover the cost of repair or replacement. Rooms or common areas left in exceptionally poor condition may result in a student’s loss of future housing privileges. There is also an expectation that the exterior of buildings and the grounds around residence halls will be kept clean and uncluttered.

Students will be billed for damages to their rooms and/or common areas incurred during the academic year. Assessable damages include alterations or defacement of the building structure or furnishings. Students may not structurally alter, write on, or paint College property. Charges and fines for damages that occur in common living areas such as living rooms, corridors, bathroom facilities, and cooperative areas will be equally divided among the residents if the person(s) responsible is/are not known or identified. Additionally, students may be assessed a community impact fine if the damages warrant such a charge. Common areas are inspected on a regular basis, and fines are assessed accordingly. Anyone who causes damage to or removes common area furniture will be subject to charges and conduct action.

End-of-the-year room inspections are conducted by Residential Life and Campus Operations, and may result in cleaning/damage charges being assessed by Campus Operations. 

Residences, including bedrooms, common areas, and bathrooms, should be clean and free of all garbage and belongings. Any residence not in clean condition will be fined a minimum of $50 per student. 

Walls and ceilings should be left in the same condition as they were found. If any damage is done, a fine of $50 will be levied, plus any additional repair costs. The use of Fun-Tak or any similar adhesive is prohibited. Damage to surfaces from adhesives will result in a fine. Students whose walls have been painted or written on will be charged between $200 and $400 per wall to repaint.

If rooms or common areas are painted by students for any reason or found with graffiti or other markings, they will be repainted by Facilities staff. The student responsible will be charged a fine and the cost of repainting. Students may not repaint the area themselves (or have someone else repaint the area) in order to avoid the repainting charge and fine. 

The College supplies a bed frame, mattress, desk, chair, closet, window shade/blind, and dresser. The student supplies a pillow, blanket, linens, lamps, wastebaskets, and personal accessories. We highly recommend you bring an additional floor and/or desk lamp. The furnishings in the room upon arrival are the furnishings for the duration of your stay. The College does not accept requests for furniture exchanges. For the safety of our students, only beds provided by the College designed to be lofted may be lofted. Students may not build or purchase lofts. Students who reside in rooms that have loft frames and would like to have their beds raised or lowered must submit a work order. Students may not raise or lower loft beds without the assistance of facilities staff. Waterbeds are not permitted in the residence halls.Please review Approved appliance and prohibited items  under the Fire Safety Policies. 

Each piece of furniture that needs to be replaced because of student abuse will carry a $50 fine and the replacement cost (mattress $165, bed frame $225, desk $430, chair $125, dresser $430, screens $40–$125, window shade $90-$240). Damaged furniture has a $50 fine plus an additional repair cost. Furniture may not be brought outside. Any furniture found outside will be removed. The resident(s) responsible for taking furniture outside will be charged a fine. If the responsible student(s) cannot be identified, residents of that house or dorm will be charged a replacement or repair fine. Other damages will be charged at the replacement/repair cost plus a fine of $50. Students are charged the full cost for missing furnishings. Fines are assessed when SLC staff have to remove any additional non-SLC furnishings found in rooms at the end of the year.  

Students are responsible for cleaning their bedrooms and shared common spaces, including kitchen and bathrooms. A bucket of cleaning supplies is left in common areas of cooperative houses at the beginning of the fall semester, which can be replenished throughout the year by visiting Campus Operations. The college only cleans the large communal bathrooms located in Garrison, Taylor, and Westlands 3rd floor. Students living in non-cooperative houses (O’Silas, Titsworth, Dudley Lawrence, MacCracken)) should purchase their own cleaning supplies. We suggest cleaning kitchens, especially stoves, once a week or at least once every two weeks. For bathrooms, we suggest cleaning weekly; for safety and hygiene, students must use bathmats (not supplied by SLC) when exiting showers. Students must maintain their spaces to standards acceptable to Residence Life and Facilities. Failure to maintain spaces to acceptable cleanings standards may result in fines and disciplinary action. 

If keys to a room/apartment/house/residence hall are lost or stolen and Campus Operations deems it necessary to change the lock(s), the lock(s) will be changed at a cost of $50, along with an additional cost for a new set of keys that is billed to the student’s account. If a student loses a key, and Campus Operations determines the lock does not need to be changed, the student can obtain new keys from Campus Operations at a cost of $50 per key. When a student moves out of a room or studio space and does not return the corresponding keys, unreturned keys will be replaced at a cost to the student of $50 per key. Charges for unreturned keys will be refunded to the student if the student returns the lost or unreturned keys within 30 days of when the charge occurred. For everyone’s safety, all exterior and interior residence doors should be closed and locked at all times. Lost keys should be reported and replaced immediately. Failure to do so puts other residents at risk. The College reserves the right to require a student to have the room lock changed. Because each key is unique and assigned to a particular student, students may not trade keys. Failing to return the specific key issued will result in a $50 per key fine.  Keys must be returned to Campus Operations or the Campus Safety 24/7 Desk located at Swinford Annex.

A campus guest is defined as any person who is not affiliated with Sarah Lawrence College as a current student or employee. All guests on campus at any time must conform to all College regulations. Those who do not will be required to leave. In the event of violations of law or noncompliance with a request to leave, a guest may be considered a trespasser and Campus Safety will be notified.

A residential guest is defined as any individual not registered/assigned by the College to the bedroom, apartment, residence hall or house they are occupying. Residential guests must have a valid form of picture ID (driver’s license, school ID, etc) in their possession while inside any College residence.

All non-residents in any College residence must be escorted by an authorized resident at all times, with the exception of SLC students who may have keycard access to a classroom or other authorized student common-area within a residence. Otherwise, at no time is a non-resident allowed to walk through any hallways, lounges, or other public areas of a residence hall, apartment complex, or College house without being in the company of the host they are visiting. The behavior of guests can result in conduct action for their host.

The number of occupants at any time in any single-occupancy bedroom, including those within apartments and houses, may not exceed three (3). The number of occupants at any time in any double-occupancy bedroom may not exceed six (6). The number of occupants at any time in any triple-occupancy bedroom may not exceed 9 (nine). The number of occupants at any time in any Sarah Lawrence College bedroom or total overall living space – suites, apartment units, and houses – shall not be more than the total number of residents assigned to that living space, plus two guests each, and must also not exceed a maximum capacity of 15 people altogether. Care and prudence should be taken whenever multiple residents of an apartment or house may be hosting guests simultaneously. The College retains all rights to remove guests or limit the number of individuals in residential or other spaces at any time. 

Permission must always be secured from each resident of a room/apartment/house before a residential guest may remain, particularly overnight. An overnight guest is any person who is not a resident of the residential area they are visiting and who visits/remains in the building between midnight and 7am, regardless of whether they plan to sleep during the stay. Students are required to register any overnight guests with the College using the Overnight Guest Registration form managed by the Office of Residential Life, found on mySLC.

Any guest may not stay overnight on campus for more than two consecutive nights or more than five nights within a 30-day period, unless authorized in advance by Residential Life. The maximum number of overnight guests permitted at any time is two per student and overnight guests may not exceed the number of regularly assigned students plus one overnight guest per bedroom (e.g. a student in a double bedroom may have one, but not two, overnight guests unless their roommate is away for the night and has agreed to the both overnight guests being present).

Guests less than 18 years of age must be directly related to their host and must obtain specific permission from the Office of Residential Life prior to their arrival. Guests less than 16 years of age are not allowed to stay overnight.

At no time is it acceptable that a resident be deprived of sleep, privacy or study accommodations due to the presence of another’s guest

Students who are banned from Sarah Lawrence College are not allowed to be in/around any College residences including student apartment buildings. Residential Life Staff have full authority to limit guests in a room, reject guests, or dismiss guests, if, in their judgment, the health and safety of students is being jeopardized and/or reasonable standards of behavior are being violated.

This policy does not apply to Facilities personnel, authorized contractors, Campus Safety, Residential Life staff or any other College employee or agent who must enter a residential area as part of their College duties, i.e. to assist students and maintain/secure Sarah Lawrence College property.

In an effort to create a safer environment, residents should lock the exterior door to their room, apartment, or house at all times.

If students are locked out of their rooms, they may call Public Safety for access. At the time access is granted, the student will be issued a lockout ticket by the responding security officer. The first ticket is a warning, the second is a $5 fine, and all subsequent tickets carry a $10 fine to be charged to the student’s College account.

Students in violation of the rules and regulations stated in the Student Housing License Agreement,  in this handbook, or as applied by the Committee on Undergraduate Student Life or the Office of Student Life, will be subject to conduct action, which may include housing probation, removal from College housing, restrictions related to housing assignment, or denial of the privilege to petition for College housing. Repeated violations or serious infractions of these regulations may result in immediate removal from College housing.

Quiet Hours (Sunday – Thursday 11pm – 8am, Friday – Saturday midnight – 10am) are designated to support an environment that is conducive to learning and rest. Residents have the right to sleep and study in their rooms at any time without interference from those around them. During quiet hours, no noise should be audible outside an individual’s room.

Courtesy Hours are in effect at all times. During courtesy hours, your music, voices or noise should not be disruptive to your community. It is expected that all students will respond to a request for quiet by lowering the noise level. Residents are expected to demonstrate courtesy and consideration toward others at all times.

Musical instruments and DJ equipment may not be played in student residences unless attached to headphones.

Individuals affected by loud or excessive noise should first approach the person(s) making the noise and ask for the noise level to be lowered. If the noise persists, students should contact an RA and may also call Campus Safety if necessary. Multiple noise violations by the same student(s) may result in conduct action.

Furniture Storage During the Academic Year

Sarah Lawrence College does not store any dorm furniture. The College will only store furniture for students with approved documented medical accommodations. Students needing such accommodation must contact the Director of Access and Disability Services. and provide that office with documentation for the storage need. If the request is approved,  the College will waive the storage fee.

Summer Storage

The College does not offer on-campus storage of student items during the winter or  summer breaks. However, the College has partnered with Collegeboxes, a shipping and storage company. Collegeboxes has many storage and shipping options. Refer to their website, https://www.collegeboxes.com, for more information. Collegeboxes will store and/or ship any item at any time during the year. Any personal belongings left on campus by students, including in residences, class spaces, common areas, and student club spaces, will be discarded. Students will be charged for the disposal of items from their rooms. Students will be charged for the removal of trash and non-SLC items from their rooms.

Because Sarah Lawrence College is part of the larger residential community, all of the campus green spaces, including the front and back yards of all College property, must be kept neat and clear of items including, but not limited to, tools and equipment, trampolines, hammocks, tents, barbecue grills, lawn ornaments, decorative flags, pools, patio furniture, and clotheslines. Items found will be discarded, and students may be responsible for the removal charge.

No items including, but not limited to, flags, towels, banners, and signs may be placed on the inside or outside of residence hall windows. Flyers approved by the College can be posted by staff on lobby and common room windows. Those violating this policy will have 24 hours to remove items. If the item is not removed, College staff will remove the items.