By CARRIE REINFURT and ERIN MARTIN
reinfurt@du2.byu.edu
Owners of large BYU-approved rental units agree to exercise reasonable efforts to maintain BYU Residential Living Standards. These standards include the Honor Code and principles of LDS Church, the visitation policy, rules of behavior that are applicable to the premises of the living facilities, and the dress and grooming standards, said Director of Off-Campus Housing John Pace.
Pace said night watch systems are strongly encouraged for the off-campus housing. He understands that only the larger complexes can afford to hire people.
Six apartment complexes were asked by NewsNet what measures they take to uphold the Honor Code. All agreed there is an incentive to look for Honor Code violations.
Amy Curtin, a director at Glenwood Intermountain Properties, which manages the Raintree apartment complex, the Glenwood apartments and the Riviera apartments, said the night watch program they have is not really for security.
'It's not a security job. They have phones and help people who are locked out or have another problem. They are assistants to the residents. They respond to noise problems; they check that out. They also help with the night towing. For curfew, they don't go door to door, they go to the door if they notice or see something ... they are encouraged to talk to them ... to get their names ... this is to help them; we don't want one person to affect the other five,' Curtain said.
Curtain said Glenwood Intermountain Properties takes different steps to correct the situation, depending on the violation.
'For example, if they are breaking curfew, it's usually the case to give a warning. For other Honor Code violations, we try to get names and apartment numbers. The manager tries to follow up the next day. More serious problems are immediately addressed,' Curtain said.
Kimberly Williams, a manager at King Henry, said, 'We hired Blue Line Security who are actual police who come and check the grounds and respond to police calls ... mainly for safety.'
King Henry has two couples who are resident assistants who live in the complex. They are usually the first to respond to calls about noise. If they see problems with Honor Code violations, King Henry managers find out, Williams said.
'Depending on the violation, we give a warning. It's really on your honor here. We don't go around looking for it. Last semester we had a problem that became excessive and disruptive behavior due to an Honor Code violation. The police responded to the situation. It has to be a cooperative effort to bring these things to our attention. Roommates need to let us know too,' Williams said.
Alta Apartments manager Maxine Denning said Alta has had a live-in couple for the past 10 years. The couple looks for things suspicious.
'If there is a problem, we give one warning to bring it to the attention of people involved,' Denning said.
Denning said Alta has had zero complaints about the way the couples handle these things.
She said, a couple of years ago, Alta had a ton of roommate complaints.
'I think it helps to have great bishops who are really on top of things. We have relatively few problems. The couple help with Honor Code problems, but mostly for security, so students feel safe. We do inform them to enforce the Honor Code. It is working out fine,' Denning said.
The Elms has two on-site married managers. They are in charge of office duties, monitoring grounds and parking, and they enforce the Honor Code, said Camille Dille, manager at the Elms.
'We enforce the Honor Code but we don't have to do that very much. We have good students who live here. We first give a warning -- this is what BYU has asked us to do, if we can take care of it ourselves,' Dille said.
Dille said, if the warning does not work then the management reports the case to the Honor Code Office.