Dartmouth To Conduct Surprise Dorm Walkthroughs
If you read College Insurrection, you know Harvard is cracking down on college parties.
Now it looks as though Dartmouth is about to do the same by conducting unannounced walkthroughs of dorms and Greek Houses. Doesn’t that count as a violation of privacy? Joseph Asch of Dartblog (an alumni blog) reports.
Unannounced walkthoughs of Greek houses and dorms are on the way. It is a matter of when, not if. The open question remains as to their purpose.
In a brief discussion this summer, Harry Kinne mentioned to me that due to manpower constraints, the number of walkthroughs would be extremely limited, and that Safety & Security’s goal was harm reduction; walkthroughs were not an effort to nab students for minor violations of the alcohol laws.
Addendum: The Dartmouth’s opinion page staff, in a notably outspoken and unanimous Short Answer piece today, derided both the new alcohol rules and the manner in which they were presented to the student body this summer (actually, imposed in the more accurate word here).
Comments
First things first: we do not have a right to “privacy” under federal law. There is a right to be free from “unreasonable search and seizure” by government actors which usually requires a warrant to enter a personal space, such as a home, apartment, hotel room, etc…. There may be a question under state law if the state in question grants some “right to privacy” beyond federal baseline (check your local jurisdiction).
As for the issue here:
Dorms? No. There would not be any unconstitutional invasion there. That is the price you pay for living in college owned housing. You give up privacy through the agreements you have to sign to live in the dorms (even if it is required by the educational institution, check your individual agreement). I guarantee you that the agreement says that Officials can enter any space at any time for any reason.
Greek houses may be a different matter depending on the ownership of the house and the particular Greek structure. Whether it would be an unconstitutional invasion depends on the agreement between the student and the Greek house, and any agreements between the Greek house and the educational institution in question.