Residence Hall Services
On Call Staff Members
Residence hall staff will be on-call seven nights a week, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., in the residence halls. The staff member on-call will make rounds, provide lockout service, check public areas, enforce University policies, and assist with building security. To contact the on-call staff member call the “on-call line” listed on your room phone or posted in your residence hall. On the weekends a staff member is available on campus between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The apartment communities and Service House have a staff member available on campus between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. each night and 5:00 p.m. Friday until 8:00 a.m. Monday morning on the weekends.
Area Desks
There are two Area Desks on campus that serve the residential communities. The South Area Desk is in McElvaney Hall and serves McElvaney, Morrison-McGinnis, Cockrell-McIntosh, Perkins, Smith, Moore, Martin and Hawk. The North Area Desk is located in Virginia-Snider Hall and serves Boaz, Mary Hay & Peyton, Shuttles, Virginia-Snider, Daniel House and Service Houses.
The Area Desks are open daily from 8:00 a.m. to Midnight during the academic year. Services available include: lock-out service, perishable deliveries (flowers, etc.), resident telephone directory service, loft requests, maintenance repair requests, bicycle locker service, and US mail drop off (Monday-Friday only).
Bike Stands and Covered Storage
Residents must register their bikes with SMU Police. Outside bicycle racks may be used by residents to secure their bicycles. Covered storage for bicycles is available at the South Area Desk. Residents may not keep bicycles, mopeds, scooters or motorcycles inside or around the entrance areas of SMU-owned Housing. The only exception is for non-motorized bicycles over Winter Break when the room is unoccupied.
Custodial Services
SMU custodians are responsible for cleaning common spaces and bathrooms in residential communities. Common areas are cleaned on a scheduled basis, Monday through Friday. Suite-style baths are cleaned weekly on a rotating schedule. On weekends, custodians also provide limited cleanup of community bathrooms and respond to obvious needs. Custodians are not responsible for cleaning resident rooms or apartments.
Deliveries
Deliveries directly to a resident’s room are not permitted. When ordering food or other delivery service, residents should give their phone number to the vendor. Delivery personnel must call from the courtesy phone outside the community upon arrival. Residents must pick up the delivery at the entrance.
Most packages are delivered to resident campus mailboxes in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. Deliveries such as flowers may be made to the Area Desks. Recipients are called (room phone number) and e-mailed (SMU e-mail address). Deliveries not picked up after 3 business days are returned to sender.
Keys/Lock Changes
Each resident receives a key to his or her room or apartment upon check-in. Misplaced or lost keys should be immediately reported at the Area Desk or to Residence Life Staff. When a student loses his/her room key, the lock is changed the next working day and the cost of a lock change is posted to the student’s account. In the event of a lockout, misplaced or lost key, a loan key is available at the Area Desk for 30 minutes without charge. If a loaned key is not returned within 30 minutes, $25 is charged to the student’s account. If the key is not returned within 24 hours, it will be assumed the original key is lost, the lock will be changed and the cost will be charged to the student account. Charges vary from $50-$250 depending on the hall and number of lock cylinders that must be changed. Lockout service is available between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. when a hall staff member is on-call. There is a $10 fee which is charged to the student’s account. Residents are expected to keep up with their keys. Habitual lock-outs may result in consequences such as fines.
A replacement key will be given, at no additional charge, in the event of a broken key. The broken key must be returned at the time the replacement is made, or it will be presumed lost, a lock change will be made and the cost of a lock change is charged to the student account.
Laundry Rooms
Laundry rooms are provided in each residence hall and residents may use the laundry without additional charge.
Mail Box Service at Hughes-Trigg
All residence hall students are required to have an SMU post office box at the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. The $50 non-refundable annual mailbox fee is included in the Fall semester residence hall rent. The mailbox fee provides one year of mail service, beginning August 2011 through July 2012 (academic year and summer term). Students newly assigned for the Spring semester will be charged a $40 non-refundable fee when assigned. This provides mail service for the remainder of the academic year and summer term (January through August).
New residents may pick up their mailbox number and box combination in person at the SMU Post Office. For questions, please call the SMU Post Office at (214)768-4450. Residents must renew their box at the Post Office each Fall semester or the mailbox will be assigned to another student.
The mailing address (using your mailbox number in place of XXXX) is:
Name
3140 Dyer Street
PO Box 75XXXX
Dallas, TX 75275-XXXX
Maintenance Services
Residents may submit requests for maintenance by sending an e-mail to the appropriate address below. All requests must include the resident’s name and phone number, building and room number and the description of the work requested. Please explain the problem in detail.
- Residence Halls: fixit@smu.edu
- Daniel and SMU Service Houses: aptmaint@smu.edu
- SMU Apartments: aptmaint@smu.edu
- SMU-owned Greek Houses: aptmaint@smu.edu
Maintenance requests are handled according to priority. Emergency and critical areas are given top priority. Non-critical requests are handled in the order in which they are received. Maintenance requests which are made late in the day or on weekends may not receive attention until the following workday. In the case of a repair that needs immediate attention, contact a Residential Life staff member, the Facilities Manager or the Area Desk.
On-campus Directory Information
Resident student phone numbers are listed at the Residence Hall Area Desks. The Desk Assistant can give out phone numbers, but not building or room assignment information. Other SMU directory information is available from the SMU operator during business hours, Monday-Friday.
Outdoor Barbeque Grill
An outdoor barbeque grill adjacent to McElvaney and Morrison-McGinnis Halls may be used by residents and can be reserved at the South Area Desk. There is also an outdoor grill in the center of the North Quad (behind the Health Center) for resident use
Policies concerning grill use can be found on the grill and are available at the South Area Desk.
Overnight Guests
Guests may stay in a resident's room with advance permission of roommates and suitemates. Guests are not permitted for the first two weeks or last two weeks of a semester. Guests are limited to 3 nights per week unless approved in advance by the roommate, suitemates and the Residence Community Director. Residents must accompany their guest within the residence hall at all times. Guests may not stay overnight in any public area of the residence halls.
Phone & Telecommunication Services
A telephone with voicemail service is provided in each residence hall room. Personal landline telephones will not work on-campus. Residents should set up their voice mailboxes as soon as possible and personalize their password. A tutorial program is heard the first time an extension is dialed into the system. (Instruction booklets are available at the Area Desks).
All residence halls are wired with a data line for computer hookup and also feature a wireless connection to the SMU Network. Modems will not work and may cause damage to the phone system. Information can be found in the telecommunication brochures and on the SMU OIT website. Problems with the telephone or network should be reported to 768-HELP.
Students are allowed to connect any number of devices to the wired and
wireless networks. However, the following devices are NOT permitted: routers,
switches, hubs and wireless access points. There should be a one to one ratio
for any device plugged into the Ethernet jacks in the wall (one device and
connection per port).
For wireless connectivity, the device must support the WPA Enterprise security
configuration. This allows an individual to authenticate with their SMU
credentials and not through the use of a pre-shared key. If your device only
supports WPA-PSK, it will not work on the SMU Wireless network.
All devices must be registered on the SMU Network. If you have any difficulty
registering a device on the network, please contact the IT Help Desk.
Vacuums & Other Equipment
Vacuums and other equipment are available for resident use. Some residential communities have a DVD player, billiards equipment or games which may be checked out from the staff. Residents must present an ID before checking out any equipment. Residence Life staff can provide information specific to your building.
updated February 2012