Duty Requirements

illini tower

student village

Shifts/On Calls/Rounds

• Incident Reports

  All reports will be written in 3rd person. Be as thorough and complete as possible. No personal opinions should be included in the report. All reports should be submitted by 8am the next morning. Incidents reports should be submitted by email to the RD, the AGM, the GM, and the RA in charge on that floor.

• Rounds Guidelines

  Inform the front desk when you are doing rounds and let them have a phone number where you can be reached.

  Incident reports and rounds sheets should be submitted before 8am the next morning.

  The importance of RAs conducting rounds cannot be emphasized enough. Our job is to ensure that we provide a safe living environment for our residents. RAs play a huge part in this responsibility. The purpose of rounds is not to run through the area quickly. All floors should be checked thoroughly focusing on

  page 15
  Duty Requirements page 16
  
  • facility concerns,
  • safety issues, and
  • resident interaction.

  Each night designated staff members will complete rounds. A rounds sheets is to be filled out completely and properly for each night. Additional late night rounds are scheduled on the weekends.

  During rounds
  • Check to make sure that all doors are locked and not propped open.
  • Check basement areas.
  • Check for maintenance/damage concerns on the floors or lobby areas.
  • Confront all incidents and write reports or make note.
  • Be accessible by telephone at all times. There is a dedicated RA duty phone.
  • Notify front desk when confronting an issue.
  • Check for missing, damaged, or stained furniture in each floor lounge.
  • Remember, when in doubt provide documentation.


• Desk shifts

  All staff, RAs and night clerks alike, are expected to be on time for your shifts. Arrive 5 minutes before the beginning of your shift so that you can be briefed on any tasks that need to be completed or messeges that need to be passed on. If there is no work that needs to be done, please bring a book or homework to keep your time productive. Remember that customer service is the reason you are working at the front desk. So, pay attention to the people who walk up to the desk or who need any help.

• Daytime on calls

  RAs are not required to be at the desk during these times. However, you are required to report to the desk, let them know who is on call, and assure them that you have the RA duty phone. You are required to carry the RA phone at all times when you are working or on call. Even tough you are not required to be at the desk, you should be dressed in uniform and ready to report immediately when called upon. It is unacceptable to take longer than 5 minutes to report when you are on call.

• Confrontation

  Any behavior of the residents that is causing a disturbance on any floor requires that the staff member is prepared to confront the issue. Anything more serious than a noise complaint requires that the staff member, either RA or night clerk, gets another staff member to provide back up and witness. We need to avoid the "he said, she said" situation. If there are several residents united against a lone staff member, this can be a real problem. Help should be available from the night clerks at the front desk, the RA on that floor or the adjacent floor above or below, or the pro staff on call whose name and number is posted in the RDs office.

  When the confrontation involves entering the residents' suite, proper room entry procedure should be used. First knock, then state name and title, and ask to be allowed entry such as, "I have reason to believe that there is a violation of residence hall regulations. May I come in and talk about the situation?" More detailed instructions are found in the next couple of paragraphs.

• Noxious Odors or Smoking

  In the residence hall, any noxious odors such as rotten food, severe body odor or dirty laundry, or smoking creates an unacceptable condition for other residents. If the staff member confronts the room and is denied access, forcible entry is not allowed unless there is a situation endangering the individual's health, life or safety or endangering the health, life, or safety of other people. The staff member should contact the pro staff on call to assist with the confrontation.

  If smoking tobacco or marijuana is the suspected cause of the odor, check to be sure the windows are closed and there are no fans dissipating the smoke. Staff should ask if they have been smoking. In the case of tobacco, an incident report should be written which may lead to fines for the offenders. In the case of Marijuana, staff should ask if the residents have been smoking marijuana. If the answer is "yes", ask if there is more and request that the room should be searched. Before searching the room, be sure that the pro staff on call is present. No room should ever be searched without pro staff present.

• Room Entry Procedure

  Illini Tower staff will follow the procedure listed below to enter and search student rooms.

  1. Staff shall not enter a student's room without first knocking and identifying themselves. The resident must open the door for the staff member and give verbal permission for the staff member to enter the room. Staff should get the name of the individual who opened the door for them. Staff may need to physically open the door in cases where the student may be injured.
  2. In the absence of occupants, any room will be entered only in an emergency or for maintenance, repair, or safety inspection as authorized by the University. Such entry cannot be used in a search for evidence which may be in violation of University regulations.
  3. In situations where there is sufficient grounds to believe that a violation is occurring which tends to disrupt the peace, endangers the safety of the building or any of its occupants, or which is a violation of University or state regulations and when the student occupant is either absent or refuses permission to enter the room to a residence hall staff member, the staff member will require the assistance of a professional staff member. Only then will staff try to establish the fact of violation or restore the peace. It is recognized that these situations will be rare and such entry will be made only after normal entry procedures have been attempted.
  4. Personal belongings of students may not be routinely searched. In situations where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a violation has occurred, authorized University personnel (residence hall staff members) ask any students involved to allow a search of their personal belongings. If the student chooses not to assist in this manner, U of I Police Officers may be requested to obtain a search warrant for this purpose. Personal belongings of roommates will not be searched without their consent and presence unless in an emergency as described below.
  5. In an emergency, it may neither be safe nor possible to follow the procedure regarding room entry and search outlined above. These exceptions will be rare and will include only situations where, in the judgement of the professional staff an imminent danger to the safety of the building and/or its occupants exists.
  Duty Requirements page 19
  
  6. Students will be given a receipt for all belongings removed following a search. These belongings will be returned when it is lawful to do so, after a disposition of the case has been determined by appropriate authorities.


• Compliance vs Non-Compliance

  It is up to the staff member to determine if the resident is being compliant. The written incident report should state whether each resident was compliant or not and an explaination in the negative case. This is determined by the response to a reasonable request.

  Example of non-compliance

  • Not opening doors when requested
  • Not emptying containers when requested
  • Bad attitude
  • Using obscene language
  • Running away from a staff member
  • Not showing IDs/keys when requested

← Return to Table of Contents