Our Mission
The mission of the Office of Housing and Residence Life at Florida SouthWestern State College (hereinafter "FSW") is to create a supportive, safe, and engaging residential community which fosters students personal development and academic success. The Office of Housing and Residence Life program aims to provide students a caring community that is both intellectually and socially enriching, with an emphasis on student self-governance and a corresponding expectation of student accountability.
Residential students will experience a caring, inclusive community that supports the academic mission of the College through the creation of relevant and meaningful opportunities for individual growth outside the classroom.
Office of Housing & Residence Life Office Location and Hours
Location: LightHouse Commons Offices W-120 and W-121
Office Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30am – 4:30pm (excluding those days when the College is closed)
Mailing Address
Student Name LightHouse Commons Mailbox # (issued at move-in) 13301 FSW Parkway Fort Myers, FL 33919
Mail Procedures/Pick Up
Each LHC resident will be provided a mailbox upon move in. Resident's mail will be placed in their mailboxes, located across from Recreation Room, during normal office hours Monday – Friday. Mail will not be placed in boxes over weekends and college breaks/holidays when the College is closed.
Resident Advisors
Resident Advisors (hereinafter "RA's") are responsible for guiding students through the living - learning community experience. They will provide residential students with fun, safe, and educational programming experiences as well as guidance in dealing with difficult situations (i.e. suitemate conflicts). RA's are here for their residents and can be contacted day or night with any questions, issues, or concerns (i.e. maintenance work orders). A student should always keep in mind that if he or she does not communicate an issue to the RA, they will not be able to take care of it. The goal of all of our RA's is to ensure each student has a great residential living experience that is fun and educational and full of everlasting memories.
Campus Police
The Campus Police department is committed to providing a safe, secure, and orderly environment in which learning, working, and administrative operations of the College have the opportunity to excel. The safety of our campuses is a cooperative effort of students, faculty, staff and visitors and all of us must assume responsibility for our own personal safety as well as the protection of our personal and college property.
Suitemate Agreements are completed shortly after move-in with the assistance of your RA. These agreements are helpful in that each student has the ability to write and sign what they agree to in order to resolve a particular issue/conflict. When filling out this agreement, with your suitemates, it is important to be sure that the agreement clearly states each student's responsibilities. An agreement is also helpful when a student violates part of the agreement. If you have it in writing, you can pull out the agreement and show the person that he/she is in violation of the agreement. If it is not in writing, he/she may forget or change the terms of the agreement and you will have no written confirmation of what he/she originally agreed to do. If a student violates the roommate agreement, the student may undergo a conduct process and/or be placed on housing probation.
Dealing with Conflict within Your Suite
In the event that a reasonable compromise cannot be reached with you mediating the conversation with your suitemate(s) on your own, look to those above you for assistance. Your Resident Advisor provides another level of authority and experience which may be all that is required. If having your Resident Advisor involved still does not resolve the conflict, please meet with one of the Residence Life Specialists for guidance.
In the most serious conflicts, and after a student's efforts to resolve the conflict have been exhausted, the Residence Life Specialist will typically refer students to meet with the Director of Housing and Residence Life who will then determine if the students need to be moved out of the suite (regardless of fault). When dealing with a suitemate conflict we encourage residents to engage in the process and view it as a learning opportunity. If a suitemate conflict is so severe that the only option is to move the students away from each other, both students will be moved out of the suite. All suitemate conflicts are handled on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Office of Housing and Residence Life.
Institutional Purpose Room Entry Policy
The Office of Housing & Residence Life staff are permitted to enter a suite/room to conduct periodic health and safety inspections and for certain institutional purposes in enforcing student housing policies. The room entry types that fall under this policy are referred to as Health & Safety Checks and for Other Institutional Purposes.
Routine Health and Safety Inspections occur twice per semester (Fall and Spring) and during each Summer Term. These checks consist of the inspection of all suite common areas, including bathrooms, as well as bed rooms. Unless a reason necessitates a staff member to do so cabinets, drawers, refrigerators, etc. will not be opened during these inspections. Any items found to be in violation of College policy will be addressed directly by the Office Housing & Residence Life staff with the resident(s). Referrals to the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities will be made as appropriate. In the event of an obvious violation being covered, a Residence Life Specialist will be notified and may either verify the violation, or follow up with the resident(s).
Other Institutional Room Entry Purposes in which authorized college personnel may enter resident suite and/or room at any time for the following reasons:
1. Scheduled or emergency maintenance 2. Student Welfare and/or Safety Concern 3. The visible indication of smoke; detection of Excessive Odors' 4. Excessive noise with no response 5. Threat of violence to oneself and/or others 6. Submitted statement from a resident(s) of Lighthouse Commons noting possible violations of the Residential Living Guide, Students Right and Responsibilities, local and federal law, and/or the Housing Conduct/Contract 7. Checking to ensure all vacant rooms are unoccupied and locked.
Pets
Pets are not permitted in LightHouse Commons. Service Animals are welcome as we understand the dog has been trained to perform specific tasks related to a disability. If you are a student with a documented disability and plan to utilize an Emotional Support Animals while residing at LightHouse Commons, please contact the Office of Adaptive Services at 239-489-432-7354 for the approval process or visit their website for additional information.
Quiet Hours
In order to foster a living learning community experience for all residents of LHC it is important to establish and abide by a set of quiet hours. Quiet Hours are as follows: Sunday-Thursday: 10pm-10am Friday-Saturday: 11:59pm-10am
Failure to adhere to the established quiet hours of LHC hours will result in an incident report being created and forwarded to the Office of Community Standards.
Day Guest Policy
• Residents must meet their guest(s) in the lobby of LHC. Residents are permitted to sign-in up to 2 guest(s) at a time during normal guest hours. Normal guest hours (non-overnight) are as follows: - Sunday-Thursday: 8am-12am (all non-overnight guests must leave LHC by 12am) - Friday-Saturday: 8am-2am (all non-overnight guests must leave LHC by 2am) •All guest(s) must be 18 years of age or older, Hosts must be with their guests at all times while in LHC, NO EXCEPTIONS. •Guests are responsible for conducting themselves in accordance with the FSW Student Code of Conduct. Residents will be held accountable for their guest's behavior which may result in educational and/or financial penalties • Loss of Day Guest Privileges - Failure to comply with the Day Guest Policy will result in possible disciplinary action and/or revocation of guest privileges for a determined amount of time.
Overnight Guest Policy
• Guests may stay overnight in a resident's suite/room provided that each resident of the suite gives his or her permission. Guests may not stay in college housing for more than six (6) days in any thirty (30) day period (3 consecutive days at a time and not back to back). Cohabitation is not permitted in LightHouse Commons. • Approval
- An "Overnight Guest Authorization Form" (found at the LHC Lobby Front Desk) must be completed and submitted to a Residence Life Specialist (W-121) during normal office hours, Monday – Friday 8:30am – 4:30pm, at least 24 hours prior to the guests' arrival. - The "Overnight Guest Authorization Form" requires the signature of the resident (host) and a Residence Life Specialist. Residence Life Specialist will reach out to suitemate for Approval/Disapproval of overnight guest request - If suitemate(s) disapprove substantial reasoning will need to be provided for justification. - If suitemate(s) do no respond to Residence Life Specialists request then it will be defaulted as their approval. - "Overnight Guest Authorization Form" will be accepted on shorter notice on a case by case basis.
• Things to Remember
- Any overnight guest must be at least 18 years of age or older. A valid Photo ID must be presented to our Front Desk Worker during the duration of the stay for any guest; it is also the guest's responsibility to retrieve their ID upon departing LHC. Hosts must be with their guests at all times while in LHC, NO EXCEPTIONS. - No double room can have more than two (2) overnight guests on any given night (one per resident) and no quad room can have more than four (4) overnight guests on any given night (one per resident). Each resident is only allowed ONE overnight guest at a time. - Guests are responsible for conducting themselves in accordance with the FSW Student Code of Conduct. Residents will be held accountable for their guest's behavior which may result in educational and/or financial penalties. - The submission of an "Overnight Guest Authorization Form" will not guarantee that an overnight guest request will be approved.
• Loss of Overnight Guest Privileges
- Failure to complete the "Overnight Guest Authorization Form" in a timely manner and comply with the Overnight Guest Policy will result in possible disciplinary action and/or revocation of guest privileges for a determined amount of time.
• Overnight Guest Requests will be reviewed by Housing & Residence Life staff on a monthly basis to determine if students are "squatting" in LightHouse Commons.
Lockouts
When students are either locked out of their suite or their room within their suite, they will need to stop by the front desk of LHC to notify Campus Police they are locked out of their suite and/or room. After the student's information is recorded the Campus Police officer will either refer the student to the Office of Housing & Residence Life during normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm) or will contact the RA On-Call outside of normal business hours, weekends, and holidays.
A student is granted one courtesy lock-out request per semester/term. Should a student need to be given access to their suite and/or room after the courtesy lock-out request has been used for the semester/term the student will be assessed a $25 lock-out fee for each request thereafter*.
*Please note that lockout fees are not appealable
Lost Room Key or Mailbox Key
Room Key Replacement: If a resident of LHC should lose and/or fail to return their room key they will be responsible for the cost of replacing their key. The price of a lost room key ranges from $250-$350 and will be assessed to a student's account. In order for a student to receive their replacement room key they must pay their replacement costs before being re-issued a new key.
Students whom lose their key during the semester will need to contact Campus Police, located in D Building, to request a new room key.
Mailbox Key Replacement: If a resident of LHC should lose and/or fail to return their mail box key they will be responsible for the cost of replacing their key. The price of a lost mail box key is $75.00 and will be assessed to a student's account. In order for a student to receive their replacement mailbox key they must pay their replacement costs before being re-issued a new key.
Students whom lose their mailbox key during the semester will need to contact Campus Police, located in D Building, to request a new mailbox key.
Lost BUC Card
Should a student lose their BUC Card, which provides them access to LHC and their main suite doors, will need to pay $15 in order to replace their card. To be re-issued a new BUC students will have to request one from the BUC Card Office (S-102).
What Happens If LightHouse Commons Is Full for when I am looking to live on campus?
Should a student want to think of a possible "Plan B" or explore off campus housing options the following apartment listings were generated to provide assistance to areas nearest to the Lee, Charlotte, and Collier campuses. These provided lists are for informational purposes only. Florida SouthWestern State College has gathered this information from public sources and has not verified this information for accuracy (i.e. rent, deposits, amenities, etc.). The College does not make any representation about any person or any listed rental property including, but not limited to, the appropriateness of the rent or other terms or conditions of the rental agreement, the safety of the neighborhood where the rental property is located, the reputation of the landlord, or any other consideration that may enter your decision-making.
Disclaimer
The information contained in the Residential Living Guide is accurate as of April 26, 2017, but may be subject to change. The College reserves the right to amend, modify, or cancel the policies, terms and conditions and other material as published in this handbook. The College will endeavor to inform students of any such changes with reasonable notice.