Located intermittently throughout University residence halls are empty rooms called “safe rooms.”
These rooms are reserves for residents to use temporarily in an emergency situation.
“We put some rooms on hold if we need to switch people or do room changes,” said Sarah Waters, director of residence life. “If there is a stalker situation or something going on and we need to get [a student] to a space … there are hold rooms across campus.”
This year there are four to six safe rooms on campus. Usually there are three rooms on the west and three rooms on the east sides of campus, Waters said.
The rooms have basic amenities, including a bed and a dresser.
“Some hold rooms we have are just like your rooms,” Waters said. “[Students] can take whatever [they] want from their current room; they would definitely want to bring sheets and blankets.”
When going to a safe room, students are issued a temporary key and their personal entry devices are activated appropriately, Waters said.
The process of using the safe rooms starts when a problem arises and the hall director is notified. Students can’t ask for safe rooms, but will be provided one if a situation warrants it.
“These are for staff to use at their discretion when we have a situation that comes up that can’t be dealt with,” Waters said. “This is not something that students get to come up and ask for.”
Once notified of the situation, the hall director will contact the front desk of the hall the student will go to, Waters said.
The student then gathers their things and goes to the residence hall with the safe room.
“The front desk has instructions and they know how to issue keys to get people checked into the spaces,” Waters said.
The rooms are specifically for use after hours when there are limited options and someone needs to be moved for safety concerns, Waters said.
“I think they are an effective tool,” said Joe Zichi, Kreischer hall director. “I think it goes back to the needs of students that can’t wait until morning when we can come back to the situation with our partners on campus.”
Typically one person stays in a room at a time and the rooms are used for one night.
“If it’s the weekend or there is something more extensive going on, [students] can stay up to two to three nights,” Waters said. “The goal is to have the situation figured out by the next business day.”
Possible situations that warrant a safe room are broken windows, fights between roommates that can’t be mediated and stalking, Waters said.
Safe rooms aren’t always full, but the University reserves them annually, no matter how in-demand rooms are, she said.
“It’s not uncommon to use one of the rooms a week, but we may go several weeks without using one; it’s hard to predict what will happen,” Waters said. “It really depends on the time of year.”
Sophomore Kayla Tubbs said she wasn’t aware the rooms existed but thinks students should know about them, especially when they have problems with their roommates.
“Some people don’t have the guts to stick up for themselves and get a new roommate, but if they knew about the rooms, it would be better for them,” Tubbs said.
Students might be more inclined to speak up about roommate problems if they knew their options, Tubbs said.
“I think it’s a good idea; it’s important to have protection for your students,” Tubbs said. “It shows that they actually care about our well-being.”
Safe rooms have been a part of campus for a long time, Water said.
“We’ve always had this kind of room to meet students’ needs,” she said. “You’ve gotta have these here for an emergency, unexpected situation.”