Consolidation Policy

Gettysburg College is a residential college, and guarantees/requires housing for all full-time students. Therefore, the Office of Residence Life must efficiently and effectively utilize all available spaces in its college-owned or leased housing. To accommodate the needs of all students, the Office of Residence Life reserves the right to utilize the following consolidation policy, as needed.

Prior to the fall academic semester, at semester break, and in emergency situations, the Office of Residence Life reserves the right to move students from their current room assignment. All students within a room/apartment may be moved to another location, multiple groups of students in separate rooms/apartments but on the same floor/building may be relocated, and students residing alone in multiple occupancy rooms may be consolidated. This means that a student, upon notification, will need to vacate her/his room and move into another space on campus. This is an effort to use each room/floor/building to its capacity. In particular, consolidating students residing alone in multiple occupancy rooms is an effort to accommodate as many roommate requests as possible. By combining students who are without roommates, we make spaces for students who have specific roommate requests. While the Office of Residence Life understands that this may cause an inconvenience, we will work with all students to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Vacancy Policy

The Office of Residence Life reserves the right to use any available space to house any of our students. Residents pay only for a portion of the room in which they live and do not have exclusive rights to the entire room in which they reside. The College also reserves the right to use any vacant space as temporary housing for other Gettysburg College students during break periods. If at any time, a resident's roommate should move out, the remaining resident has two (2) days to find another roommate and begin the necessary paperwork (as described in the Room Change Process), or move to another vacancy on campus. If the remaining resident does not find another roommate within this timeframe, then the space becomes available to other residents on campus.

We encourage people who are requesting a room change to talk with a potential new roommate in order to increase the likelihood of a good match between the students involved. However, students are not required to meet with prospective roommates and, after the two day waiting period, the space is available for immediate occupancy. The Office of Residence Life will make an attempt to notify the occupant(s) of the room/apartment that a new roommate is planning to move into the vacancy. However, under some circumstances (such as emergency moves or late admits) this notification may not be possible.

Students with a vacancy should expect to receive a roommate at any time after the two day waiting period. Students should keep the following three important notes in mind:

• Any residence hall room with a vacancy must be maintained in such a way that a person can move in immediately and live comfortably with the closet, bed, desk, shelf and dresser space available for use.
• Any attempt on your part to discourage, refuse, or intimidate a potential or newly assigned roommate is a violation of the Residence Life Vacancy Policy. If any Residence Life Staff member receives information that a student is discouraging prospective roommates, that student will be contacted by a member of the Residence Life staff.
• By violating this policy the student risks disciplinary sanctioning, including the loss of future housing lottery privileges which includes losing his/her housing lottery number.
  
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Gettysburg College does not allow pets in residence halls, even as guests of family/friends. We do not believe the environment is conducive to appropriate pet ownership. While pets can be a source of much enjoyment, they can also pose a threat to the health and safety of the campus community. Many individuals suffer from allergies related to pet dander and pet hair, and it is important to provide a healthy environment for all our students, employees and visitors to the campus. In addition, pets pose a significant liability risk to the College. As such, we do not approve pets for students living in College controlled residential properties. With the exception of non-carnivorous fish and certified service animals, the presence of animals in buildings is prohibited. Fish must be maintained in a bowl or tank and may not exceed 20 gallons in a residence hall. The college will not be responsible for the care of fish during break periods.

If we discover a pet in a student's room/apartment, the student(s) will be fined $250 and given one week to remove the pet from campus. If the pet remains in the room after one week, the students will be fined an additional $250 per week until the pet is removed and could face additional disciplinary penalties. Failure to remove the pet from the residence in a timely manner may result in removal by animal control services. Violation of the pet policy may result in damage billing for the replacement and/or refurbishment of carpeting, furniture, or other affected areas of the facility.

Professional staff who live in residence halls controlled by the College may request permission from the Director of Residence Life to have a pet(s) reside with them. If approval for a pet is granted, these pets will not be permitted in administrative or classroom buildings unless they are service animals assisting individuals with certified disabilities.

Dogs and other animals are permitted on campus roads, walks, and grounds, as they are in the local community, when they are on a leash and controlled by the owner. It is the owner's responsibility to clean up after the animal. All pets must be tagged, registered, and vaccinated in accordance with Pennsylvania State Law.

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