With the holiday season approaching, many students will want to decorate their dorms to celebrate on campus. But before you bring in a live Christmas tree or wrap your door, you'll want to read what these RAs have to say on holiday decorating.
Emily Scarpa, resident assistant for Keller Hall, said real Christmas trees aren't allowed in the dorms whatsoever.
"Any kind of real tree is not allowed but they can use fake trees all they want," Scarpa, senior in applied mathematics, said. "As long as it's not a fire hazard, like it's not near an electrical outlet it's fine."
Painting the walls and hanging things with nails or other objects that create holes on the walls are also prohibitied, according to Scarpa.
"A lot of people use command strips instead," Scarpa said.
Maggie King, resident assistant for Dunn Hall, said in an emai to talk to your roommates before decorating the dorm.
"Talking with [your roommates] is important when deciding how to decorate their living area since it is a shared space," King, sophomore in mathematics, said.
Wrapping your door is fine as long as it stays within the door and doesn't have anything extending or hanging down from the door frame, according to Scarpa. As long as the wrapping is removable and doesn't damage the door or its function, it can be decorated, according to King.
Hanging lights is allowed as long as residents do not create holes in the walls, according to King. One of the buildings in King's area had a winter wonderland set up that did not violate decorating policy.
"Residents put up a sign pointing to a cubby, [which is] four additional rooms behind another door at the end of each hallway, that says 'Enter if you Dare'," King said. "They decorated it [with] many snowflakes, lights and several other pictures and decorations that are sure to get anyone excited about the holidays when they see it."
Scarpa said the most common decoration she's seen during room inspections is an artificial Christmas tree.
"We see that a lot when we do room checks," Scarpa said. "We usually don't see a lot of decoration violations."
King said decorating is encouraged for on campus residents but residents' safety comes first in the rules regarding decorating the dorm space.
"We want residents to feel like the residence halls are their home away from home," King said. "[But] safety is our main concern."
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