On Oct. 31, residents of Trinity Hall received an email regarding a potential hall fee due to significant damage on the third floor of the building.
The community email was issued by Christina Suarez, coordinator for Residence Life and Student Conduct for Trinity Hall. In the email, Suarez said though living on campus is a treat, there will be no tolerance for “tricks.”
The email contained a photo of the damage and stated that it was caused by an unknown source “showing off their hops”, which resulted in damage to the exit sign and ceiling. The email also said the behavior was not funny, and that it caused a safety concern to the entire Trinity Hall community.
According to Saurez’s email, Residence Life recognizes that people may visit different floors they do not live on, and that the damage to the sign could be from a Trinity Hall resident or a guest.
“It was stated that an all-hall fine may be issued if we were unable to gather information on who was responsible for the damage to our community,” Suarez said in an email interview.
Before issuing a fine, Saurez said Residence Life tries to gather as much information as possible to find out who is responsible, then discusses and addresses the impact on the community.
Saurez said if Residence Life feels that a fine is appropriate for the situation at hand, they issue a fine to cover the cost of repairing the damage.
In an email interview, Saurez said students sometimes come forward with information that helps Residence Life find who is responsible for the damage. However, if they are unable to determine who is responsible, Suarez said the office will decide if an all-hall fine is appropriate given the situation and cost of the entire repair.
Junior Kaan Urkmez said he and his roommates were unaffected by the damage, and that after the email was sent, Residence Life has not reached out with further information. He also said no Resident Assistants have disclosed any updates with Trinity residents.
“I think it does create uncertainty. They still haven’t told us what happened and how they are going to deal with it,” Urkmez said.
Urkmez said he understands that some people might be upset as the person who committed the damage might not have been a Trinity resident and that it is unfair if all Trinity residents potentially get fined.
At the moment, Saurez said in an email interview, there is no more information Residence Life can share about the incident, but they are in the process of addressing the community damage.