Expectations & Conduct

Being a successful member of a healthy living community means being aware of, understanding and following guidelines and policies. All community members are expected to read the Residence Hall Handbook, which is available online, at check-in, from your building supervisor, or from any of the customer service desks. Students are also responsible for following guidelines and instructions provided by any member of the Residence Education team, which include RAs, SHD, CDs, ACs, and other members of the RLSH staff.

By signing a UNM housing contract, you agree to follow all national, state and local laws, as well as University regulations, which are outlined in the UNM Pathfinder, as well as residence hall policies, which can be found in the Residence Life and Student Housing Residence Hall Handbook. If you have any questions about policies, please contact a residence hall staff member.

Click here to see the RLSH Residence Hall Handbook for 2024-2025

Click here to see the UNM Pathfinder

Rules for Living Together

While all the guidelines for living are campus are outlined in the Residence Hall Handbook, some of the basic expectations are listed below.

Noise: Hall quiet hours are from 10:00PM to 9:00AM Sunday through Thursday and from midnight to 10:00AM on Friday and Saturday. Courtesy hours are expected at all times. No amplified noise should be heard in the hallways or in other resident's rooms. Quiet hours are extended to 24 hours a day during finals week.

Cleanliness: Residents are expected to maintain their living area at a level of sanitation acceptable for a group living environment.

Guests & Visitation: Residents are responsible for their guests' behavior. Overnight guests of the same gender are allowed for up to three days. Men and women may visit each other 14 hours a day, but guests should always be escorted by a resident.

Keys: If a resident is locked out of their room, they can check out spare keys at their main desk or be let into their room by the RA on-duty. Students should note that they are allotted two free lockouts. After the second occasion, residents will be billed $10 per each additional instance. If keys are permanently lost, residents may sign out a temporary set of spare keys. The resident are allowed three days to locate the misplaced keys before a lock change is ordered. If keys are stolen, the resident must immediately report the theft to UNM PD and to their main desk. An emergency lock change will be immediately performed. Applicable lock change fees are charged to resident's bursars accounts after residents have been notified via their UNM email.

Smoking: As a part of the UNM Smoke-Free initiative, all residence halls are smoke free. However, there are two designated smoking areas within the residence hall area. These locations are the only areas in which smoking is permissible. 

Part of agreeing to abide community standards means students are held accountable for violating those standards. If a student is documented as being in violation of a community standard, they will enter into the RLSH student conduct process. A single violation of community standards could result in contract termination or consequences at the university level, however, for most students the student conduct process is an opportunity to learn and move forward in their experience at UNM.

The student conduct process consists of:

• Notification via UNM email about the violation. This email also serves as a meeting request from the building supervisor, which allows students to share their interpretation of the event.
• Based on the information gathered in the meeting, the building supervisor will make a decision regarding the level of student responsibility in the violation. 
• The level of responsibility then serves as a foundation for the assignment of educational and disciplinary sanctions. These sanctions can range from community service, peer learning assignments, and university or housing probation. 
• Once the sanctions are completed, the conduct process is officially completed. However, further violations may be subject to more progressive sanctions.

Based on the determination and/or sanction, students may have the opportunity to appeal the decisions made in the initial conduct hearing. Appeals must be filed according to the terms outlined in the Residence Hall Handbook.

For purposes of this policy, a resident may be considered a “missing person” if the resident’s absence is suspiciously different to his/her usual pattern of behavior and/or unusual circumstances may have caused the absence.

Each student living in University owned and operated housing has the option to register a confidential contact person when they register for or renew their housing to be notified in the event that the student is determined to be missing. Any missing person under the age of 18 that are not emancipated will have their parent or guardian notified as well. Only authorized campus officials and law enforcement persons in furtherance of a missing person investigation may have access to this information.

In the event of a missing student, Residence Life and Student Housing will (1) conduct a wellness check of the resident’s room, (2) attempt to contact the student via cell phone, email or other means, and (3) identify other students who may be aware of the missing person’s whereabouts (i.e. roommate, friends, classmates, other residents, etc). If Residence Life and Student Housing is unable to make contact with the potential missing student they will contact University of New Mexico Police Department, the Dean of Students, and the AVP for Student Life within a reasonable timeframe not to exceed 12 hours from notification. Residence Life and Student Housing officials will assist UNMPD and the University in the investigation of any missing student. 

After investigating the missing person report, should UNMPD determine that the student is missing and has been missing for more than 24 hours, UNMPD will enter the missing student into NCIC. Officers will also notify any other law enforcement agencies, as appropriate, for purposes of coordinating the investigation and continuing efforts to locate the student.  Additionally, UNMPD will fill out a Missing Person’s Clearing House form and fax it to DPS/Missing Person’s Information Clearing house.

UNMPD will also notify UNM Residence Life and Student Housing and the Dean of Students Office of their finding. The student’s confidential contact will be notified no later than 24 hours after the student is determined to be missing by the Dean of Students, Director of Residence Life and Student Housing, or AVP of Student Life.

How to Report a Missing Person

Policy last updated October 2014

For a variety of reasons, a request may come to Residence Life and Student Housing to conduct a wellness or welfare check on a resident. It is important to understand the following about wellness/welfare checks:

For Residents:

A wellness/welfare check means that a member of the Residence Life staff will come to your room and try to contact you regarding the request. This can include keying into your room to determine if you are present or not. A member of the Residence Life staff may also attempt to contact you via phone/email. We will encourage you to contact the person who placed a the wellness/welfare check request, because due to federal regulations (FERPA), unless you have a Student Information Proxy Release Form, which indicates the release of both housing and disciplinary information, on file with the Office of the Registrar, we are not able to share the results of the wellness/welfare check with the person who made the request.

For Family/Friends Requesting Checks:

RLSH will conduct a wellness/welfare check on behalf of the requester, should the student live in University owned and operated housing. We will not be able to release any information about the student, including confirmation that they live in University owned and operated housing unless the student has an up to date Student Information Proxy Release Form, which indicates the release of both housing and disciplinary information, on file with the Office of the Registrar. The student will be told that the name and nature of the request and we will encourage them to contact the requester.

For University Entities Requesting Checks:

RLSH will conduct a check on behalf of the requester, and RLSH will notify the department if we were able to make contact with the student. University entities should remember that unless the student has a signed Student Information Proxy Release Form, which indicates the release of both housing and disciplinary information, on file with the Office of the Registrar, the information received from housing is confidential and should not be shared with the requester.

Policy last updated October 2014