In the Grayson College resident handbook, under the maintenance section, students are told that maintenance personnel "may not always arrive at hours most convenient to the students." This is more than true. Maintenance employees have been known to bang on dorm doors as early as 8 o'clock in the morning. This is an issue due to more than just personal inconvenience, however.

Maintenance employees are given a master key. They are able to access our rooms when we are not present. We understand that this is to ensure the health and safety of residents in the building, but it is also a danger to us living in the dorms. We are given next to no warning about maintenance visits, even when they arrive to deal with dorm-wide or floor-wide issues. Previous warnings have been issued on the Band app no more than five minutes before maintenance has started work.

Dorm students are not protected under tenant law and, as such, we are not legally required to have warnings or reasons for housing to visit or check our rooms. Many students have been surprised and scared to find men in their rooms working on the air conditioning or the showers without knowing. They are more than allowed to work on equipment even when you have not made a complaint to maintenance.

This is an unacceptable violation of privacy and safety. Students can very well be deep asleep when their rooms are entered, or at class with no idea that someone entered their space and did work. How can we count on living safely and comfortably when strangers can enter the area we sleep in without warning?

We want to require Grayson student housing to inform dorm residents of maintenance visits at least 12 hours before the visit takes place. We believe that is a reasonable amount of time, especially as complaints and issues must be processed before they are responded to. A 12 hour warning will ensure that students are prepared for maintenance to enter their space and prevent potentially unauthorized entries from occurring.