Students don’t know their rights

You're drinking alcohol in your dorm. An RA comes in.  What do you do?

The SGA and IRA are hosting a student rights forum Wednesday, March 3, with the hope of giving students an understanding of their rights and responsibilities as UVM residents for situations like these.

"A lot of students don't know their rights," Director for Student Advocacy Erik Graham said. "When an RA can enter a room, what happens after you get written up? We want to answer some of these questions."

For many students, it's not clear legally what police can and can't do in residence halls, but it's important not to see them as an "opposing authority," Graham said.

"We want to fill in residents about what happens when they get in trouble by educating students about living in halls," he said.

"I'm excited to hear from students to see if they've had any problems," SGA President Bryce Jones said referring to the judicial process and life in residence halls.

"We need these sort of events to figure out if there are any issues that need to be addressed," Jones said.

Though no particular incident prompted the forum, SGA senator Katie Rifken said most students lack a general understanding of university policies.

"From what I've heard, some students get in trouble and think their rights have been infringed upon — but they signed the housing contract," Rifken said

The Housing and Meal Plan Contract that all UVM residents sign is a legally binding document that stipulates the rules for living in a residential hall.

"It's a problem that students don't read over their housing contracts completely, if at all," Rifken said.

The forum will have a panel consisting of a UVM police chief, the assistant vice president for Student and Campus Life, a representative of the Office of General Council, a former RA and a student on the Peer Judicial Board.

"We're having students on the panel to make the information more accessible to students — not just another lecture at students," Graham said.

Rifken said that she hopes students will attend the forum.

"It's always hard to get students to come to these," Rifken said, "but it's something they should be concerned about, especially with dry residence halls."

The student's rights forum will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3, in the Livak Ballroom, on the fourth floor of the Davis Center.