Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues commonly encountered by students at Georgetown.

Recent high-profile drug busts at the University have brought the issue of police searches to the forefront.

These people may really have committed crimes, but false arrests do happen. Remember, the Department of Public Safety is generally looking out for public welfare, not individual rights.

We the people…

Under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the government may not search a person or seize their effects in a place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a dorm room or a telephone booth, unless a judicial authority grants police or other agents of the state a specific authorization based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

Under the Exclusionary Rule, law enforcement may not use evidence against a person if it was obtained during the course of an illegal search.

General exceptions

These include a “stop and frisk” based on reasonable suspicion, seizure of contraband in plain view, search of a place in order prevent an emergency or secure volatile evidence, and searches conducted with the consent of the occupant.

Also, excessive noise, the smell of smoke, or any other indication of a potential safety risk will also allow any agent of the state to enter your room.

Students’ rights in dorms

Students have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their dorms, and the state may not violate it without warrant, period. There is no unified case law, but state and federal courts have held that the Fourth Amendment also applies when university officials are sworn officers of the state [1], they conduct searches accompanied by law enforcement [2], or when their primary purpose in conducting a search is to enforce of local law [3].

However, a housing contract can waive certain Fourth Amendment rights and allow University officials to enforce student conduct policy [4].

Several courts have also held that a university can legally turn over to police any evidence it obtains in the course of a search pursuant to its conduct policy [5].

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Sex free’s the way to be!

Being an amorous college student is hard enough at Georgetown, what with the lack of condom vendors and the whole Catholic morality complex, but we may have been one-upped on the preventing sex front—and by a secular school at that!

This year, Tufts University administrators revamped the school’s guest policy and added a clause that forbids “[engaging] in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room.”  The new policy also says that an sexual acts should not interfere with a roommate’s privacy, sleep, or study habits.

Legislating common decency?  Perhaps, but Tufts administrators say new rules are a response to frequent complaints from roommates who had been put in “uncomfortable” situations or sexiled.

Of course, Tufts’ new rules aren’t all that much more intense than Georgetown’s.  Our Code of Student Conduct [PDF] states, “Cohabitation, which is defined as overnight visits with a sexual partner, is incompatible both with the Catholic character of the University and with the rights of the roommates.”  (No word on the University’s position on non-sleepover sexual activities, though).