Resident Advisor (RA) walk-throughs in Pomona College’s Lawry Court have become more frequent this semester. Lawry RAs have, in accordance with the administration’s orders, conducted regular walks through common rooms enclosed within the nine suites of the dorm.

Stefan Castellanos PO ‘11, who lived in Lawry last year, said, “We didn’t even know who our RA was. The only time there was a walk-through was when there were so many people in a common room that they were pushing the doors open.”

Another former resident, Glenn McFadden PO ‘11, echoed this description.

“RAs only wrote people up when they were partying loudly or disruptively,” he said.

Dean of Campus Life Ric Townes confirmed this characterization of last year’s RA conduct.

“What I didn’t know personally until about a month ago was that this policy was not enforced last year,” Townes said. Nevertheless, Townes added that the policy of regular walk-throughs “was in place last year, and RAs were instructed to enforce it. It was enforced the year prior to last year, and was always enforced before that.”

Lawry residents have expressed concern that these spaces are being inappropriately characterized as “public,” since the fact that they are enclosed areas used only by members of one suite makes them seem “private.” Furthermore, college policy treats these common rooms as “private” in the sense that suite residents are penalized economically for damage done to their common room and for unregistered parties, as is the case with private rooms.

However, the entire Pomona student body, including RAs, have card access to these rooms at the beginning of each year. As policy stands, and as it existed last year, residents of a Lawry suite can petition to restrict card access to common rooms to a particular group of students, but they cannot restrict RA access.

One Lawry resident who asked to remain anonymous expressed concern that “an RA can regularly just swipe in and, without identifying himself, walk into a suite’s common room.

“There should be a way to make these common rooms more private,” he added.

According to the resident, he was written up by RAs—who did not identify themselves—during Substance Free Opening for having one beer poured into a red cup in the commom room. The student was distressed that he was penalized even though he did not know about the common room policy, since it was very early in the year and there hadn’t yet been any North Campus residence hall meetings to inform him.

“I would say the lack of notification was the main issue I had with getting written up,” he said. “It was an intrusion I was not expecting under a policy I was not informed about.”

When asked about his thoughts on Lawry residents’ concerns about the insufficient privacy of Lawry common rooms, Townes said he doesn’t “completely disagree” with student concerns. He noted that the Student Affairs Committee is currently reviewing a policy change that would automatically restrict access to Lawry common rooms to residents and guests chosen by residents.

“Whether RAs go through lounges or common spaces is a separate issue,” Townes said. “RAs will go wherever they need to go to protect the common interest.”

However, he said the RA walkthrough policy in Lawry is “being looked at.”