[created April 15, 2010] [Proposed and Passed May 2010]

These House Rules outline policies and guidelines for behavior for summer house members in hopes of protecting their well-being, preventing conflict, and aiding in conflict resolution. Most of these rules are abridged and adapted from Redbud’s constitution to better apply to the summer living situation for members who may or may not be house members⁴. Extra policies have been added that reflect foreseen or past issues particular to the summer.

Official opening is two days after senior commencement. Summer housing officially ends the Thursday prior to the weekend before the PREPARE orientation program for international students and is only guaranteed until this date. Fall semester house members⁴ will only be charged until this date.

Summer residents may stay longer in certain cases depending on when fall residents plan on returning, and with the stipulation that they may have to switch rooms; these cases must be coordinated with a summer house manager. The absolute last day to move out is Thursday prior to the weekend before the start of fall classes.

Housing charges cover room, utilities, laundry, staple meal plan and use of common spaces. To officially reserve a room, members who have not already paid Redbud’s security deposit must pay the $100 fee and all members must sign a contract. Every house member must pay an activity fee of $2 * (weeks living at Von Cramm Hall for the summer).² Payment for your security deposit and activity fee is due in full before moving into a room (unless other arrangements have been agreed upon with the summer HM). Housing charges may be paid fully in advance or on a weekly basis in advance of each coming week.²

House members are expected to complete a weekly chore that takes up to 1.5 hours due by a specified time during the week. HMs will assign chores in coordination with house members.

House members are expected to complete a weekly late night. Late night is a nightly cleaning of kitchen. Details will be organized by an HM.

House Meetings take place every two weeks on Sundays. They last from 6 pm to about 7 pm, though they may go over, and members are expected to remain. See section VI for house meeting conduct.

House members must attend every house meeting. If a house member must miss a house meeting, they must inform the Summer HM(s) of this at least 48 hours before the meeting.

Every house member upon moving out of their room is expected to arrange to return their keys and have a summer HM conduct a brief inspection of the room to ensure that it is left in good order. Failure to fulfill this inspection will result in an automatic $50 fine taken out of the security deposit. Abandoned property may be given away or thrown out. This is not required of house members⁴ staying in their rooms for the fall. There is a $40 deposit charge for leaving a room messy. If keys are not returned there will be a $20 per key deposit charge. If the house manager decides that the lock must be changed, that cost will be deducted from the security deposit as well.

House members should return their keys and complete their check-out inspection with a house officer before they leave if no house officer is available at the time of the member's departure. In that case, the refund of the deposit will be Vemoed or mailed as a check after the departure.³

House managers and emergency personnel reserve the right to enter your room without any notice in the case of an emergency and/or when there are concerns about anybody’s safety. House managers and maintenance personnel reserve the right to enter any room with reasonable prior notice (normally at least 24 hours) for repairs, inspections, and inventory purposes.

Members that have a guest over for more than 2 days (more than a weekend) should email the house to let them know. Guests staying for 7 or more consecutive days must pay rent and fulfill house responsibilities including late night and chores. Members should also email the house if they plan on having more than 3-4 guests over at any time out of courtesy. Any damage done by a guest will be repaired with money from the host’s security deposit.

Any event held at Von Cramm Hall with a proposed attendance of greater than 10 people must be approved by the house via a house meeting vote. Events held at Von Cramm Hall must be open to all house residents. House members can request to use house activity fee funds for their event. House members must propose their event and, if requesting house activity fee funds, a budget to the Summer HM(s) at least 24 hours prior to the house meeting before their proposed event date. An event which requests house activity fee funds is subject to a special vote (see Section VI). Any other events are subject to a majority vote (see Section VI).²

• Label all leftovers with your name and the date
• Do not eat somebody else’s food if it is labeled with a name
• Clean up after yourself including your own dishes
• Don’t store food in metal containers
• All dishes must be sanitized in the beast before they are put away
• Only put acceptable food items in the compost (see list by compost bucket)

• Please keep noise levels reasonable and time of day appropriate
• Clean up after yourself
• Share and respectfully use communal items such as the television, pool table, piano, computer, printer, projector, barbecue pit, library books, cookware, appliances, furniture, etc. Stealing or hoarding public goods is unacceptable and will result in serious consequences.

Smoking is not permitted in the house.

The pool table is fragile and easily thrown off level. Please do not move it for any reason.

The same furniture you moved in with should be there when you leave the room or until the end of summer, whichever is shorter.

During the summer, members cannot make permanent room modifications such as painting the walls, sanding, or painting furniture, and installing permanent fixtures or decorations. The exception to this rule is if you will be living in this same room in the fall, or if the modification has been approved by a summer HM. Failure to adhere to this rule could result in a fine taken out of the security deposit proportional to the severity of the modification.

Exterior doors to the house should not be propped open at any time unless a member is explicitly watching them. It is against Campus Life policy to ever prop them for security reasons.

Members should feel safe in the house, but ultimately individual members are responsible for maintaining the security of their room and possessions. Von Cramm Hall cannot be held liable for theft or damages.

An infraction of responsibilities happens when a member does not complete their chore or Late Night to satisfaction, and does not make up for it in some way agreed upon way with a summer HM or steward within 24 hours of notification (extenuating circumstances not counted). An infraction of responsibilities also occurs when a house member does not attend house meeting without notifying the Summer HM(s) at least 48 hours in advance.² When 3 infractions occur, the member will likely not be invited back to Von Cramm Hall in the future (the following fall semester excluded). When 5 infractions occur, that member is asked to leave. Infractions are set to zero at the beginning of every semester, counting the summer and fall as one semester.

If any house member severely and repeatedly disobeys any of the house rules listed here, after being warned, they could be asked to leave.

• [1] Passed 09/2014
• [2] Passed 04/28/2019
• [3] Passed 09/29/2019
• [4] Passed 04/05/2021