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On Monday, Jan. 25, Health and Safety Inspections begin and will continue throughout the week until Friday, Jan. 29.

Inspections are performed by the Resident Director (RD) and Resident Assistant (RA) in each on-campus living area. They are required to make sure that residents are following school code and do not have anything in their rooms or common areas that could endanger anyone.

Most returning students already know the rules and school code, but there are some first-time residents that may not know these safety regulations. Many common banned items that the RD and RA's check for are: candles with burnt wicks, damaged furniture and windows, items hanging from the ceiling and working heaters are just a few things that will be checked. Unfortunately, while some residents have candles for decoration, it is against school policy to even have candles in living areas due to potential fire hazards. If there is a violation of school policy, students are fined and issued a notice that they need to fix the problem. Once the notice is issued, the RD and RA will later do a follow-up and make sure that everything is fixed. The fines that are issued can vary and depend entirely on how great the damage or offense.

Sometimes there are disputes about violations that arise from these inspections. An incident happened with a resident who was an art student. This resident currently had an empty alcohol bottle in her apartment in order to paint it for an art project. During inspections, her RD and RA found the bottle, and though it was empty and the student had not consumed any of the alcohol in it, she was still written up.

Christina Fuentes, a current RA for Lancer Arms, is involved in the inspection process. "Just be wise and remember that as a student, you're supposed to abide by school policy and that as Christians you're supposed to honor God," she said.

Being prepared is important. Look through your student handbook and make sure that there are no violations in your apartment or dorm room. No violations means no fines, and that is always a good thing.