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2 SMU STUDENT SENATE

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4Bill Number: F-09-10-09 Final Vote:
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6Author: Senator Matt Neman ___Student Senate Secretary: Peter Goldschmidt
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8Dean of Student Life: Dr. Lisa Webb Student Senate Chair: Alaa Al- Barghuthi
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12 A RESOLUTION CONCERNING PRIVACY HOURS AT FRATERNITY
13 HOUSING
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15WHEREAS an IFC Fraternity house is a private residence for its
16 members, just as residence halls, Sorority houses, and
17 campus apartments are, and
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19NOTING that in the Lease Agreement between the university and the
20 IFC Chapters it expresses that SMU Officials, including the
21 SMU police department, may only enter the home at a
22 reasonable hour, and
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24FURTHER NOTING that in the sub-lease between an IFC fraternity and a given
25 IFC resident it is stated that university officials and staff
26 may only enter a room for inspections or with a warrant for
27 the search of a students room, and
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29HAVING EXAMINED that the Student Code of Conduct Section 2.08(c) states that
30 no searches of Fraternity Houses will be conducted unless
31 such an order is issued upon reasonable cause through the
32 Dean of Student Life and Executive Director of Residence
33 Life and Student Housing, and
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35RECOGNIZING that section 2.08(c) also states that nothing herein shall be
36 construed as to deny the University the right at any
37 reasonable hour time to conduct inspections to determine
38 compliance with health and safety regulations or to address
39 a person’s health and safety, and
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41HAVING FURTHER
42EXAMINED that the SMU Student Code of Conduct also states that
43 university staff and officials may only enter a residents
44 room when there is a threat to someone’s health or at any
45 reasonable hour, as the leasing agreement states, and
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47RECOGNIZING that the Student Code of Conduct Section 3.14(a) defines
48 harassment as conduct which unreasonably impairs the
49 privacy of any person or persons of another member of the
50 university community, and
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54FURTHER
55RECOGNIZING that there is no reason for SMU Police to enter a fraternity
56 house to check on the students past any reasonable hour,
57 and
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59ACKNOWLEDGING that the SMU police have the privilege to enter a fraternity
60 houses with probable cause for criminal activity, and
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62BEARING IN MIND that the SMU police do not need to periodically inspect
63 each fraternity house on campus, as it is a violation of
64 resident privacy and borderlines on a violation of the
65 harassment policy mentioned above, and
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67BE IT THEREFORE
68RESOLVED that SMU Officials, including the SMU Police, may not
69 enter any IFC Fraternity house past any reasonable hour,
70 which will be deemed to be at eight o’ clock p.m. until six
71 o’ clock a.m. all seven days of the week while students are
72 living in the house unless having witnessed probable cause
73 or given a warrant from the Dean of Student Life or the
74 Executive Director of Residence Life and Student Housing
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76ACKNOWLEDGING that in the lease agreement between the university and the
77 Fraternity, which refers to the Student Code of Conduct
78 Section 5.04, which states in 5.04(f) visitation hours are to
79 be decided upon by each house
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81BE IT
82FURTHER RESOLVED that SMU Officials, including SMU Police, may not use
83 guests in or going into the Fraternity house as reasonable
84 cause.
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87Respectfully Submitted,
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89Matthew Neman
90Dedman I Senator