Hello Students, 

This is a reminder that Health & Safety Inspections will take place in your residence halls on Friday, March 7th from 7pm-9pm. These inspections are a routine part of ensuring a safe and healthy living environment for all students. Any policy violations will be documented and referred to the appropriate administrative process – Residential Life or the Center for Student Conduct.  

 

During the inspection, Residential Life student staff will briefly enter each room to check for compliance with university health and safety policies. Please make sure your space meets the guidelines outlined in the 2024-2025 UVM Housing & Meal Plan Contract policies.   

 

As you may be aware, one of our University residence halls, Jeanne Mance, experienced a fire, causing considerable damage. The extent of the damage is still being evaluated, and all residents have been relocated to other residential halls throughout the University community for the remainder of the academic year. Initial investigation suggests the cause of the fire to be a battery-powered skateboard.  

  • Per our University Fire Safety Policy and Residential Life Housing Terms and Conditions, hoverboards, e-scooters, e-bikes, and other battery-powered micro-mobility devices are prohibited from the residence halls (the “Policy”). While fortunately there were no injuries as a result of this incident, residents are experiencing major impact on-campus, and the financial costs to repair the damage will be significant.
  • In order to comply with this Policy and to reduce/eliminate the risk of another similar incident, Residential Life staff will remove any battery-powered micro-mobility device from your room during Health & Safety inspections.
    • Residential Life will label your device with your full name, room number and cell phone number. It will be stored safely and securely at a designated off-campus storage facility. Until you can bring it home or to another location- this must not be another location in a University owned/operated or leased building!  
       

Policy Violation:  

This policy violation will be documented and referred to the appropriate administrative process – Residential Life or the Center for Student Conduct. Offenses will be documented and violations will be processed administratively by Residential Life, who may assess fines of up to $500. If you currently have a micro-mobility device in your room or in a bike room, you may choose to voluntarily turn in your device to professional staff in your hall and you will not receive any documentation for policy violations. Please bring any micro-mobility devices to the front desk of your residence hall from Wednesday, March 5 at 8 p.m. until Friday March 7 at 11 p.m. You are not permitted to turn in only the battery, you must turn in the whole device.  

  • Label your device clearly with your full name, cell phone number, building name, room number.
  • Residential Life will store your device safely and securely at a designated off-campus storage facility until you are able to set up a time to pick it up and bring it home or to another location- this must not be another location in a University owned/operated or leased building!  

 

Pick-up: Pick-up is only available at Spring Break and during May move-out given these devices cannot return to your campus room or residence hall. Residential Life will store your device through move-out day on May 9.  

Dates for pick-up are:  

  • Friday, March 7 from 8am-3pm
  • Wednesday, May 7 from 8am-3pm
  • Thursday, May 8 from 8am-3pm   
  • Friday, May 9 from 8am-3pm  

Residential Life will store your device through move-out day on May 9. To arrange a pick up time during the available times, please email Michael Casarico, Coordinator of Maintenance Projects at michael.casarico@uvm.edu. If you do not pick up your device on or before May 10, 2025, it will be considered abandoned property, and UVM may sell or dispose of your device in compliance with Vermont law, and you will receive no compensation.

   

Our ultimate goal is to ensure the residence halls are safe and free of any of these fire hazards. Please understand that these policies exist to protect our community and prevent future incidents like what happened in Jeanne Mance last week.   

 

If you have any questions or need clarification on policies, please refer to the Residential Life website or reach out to your Area Coordinator, Residence Director, or Resident Advisor.  

 

Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our community safe!  

 

Sincerely,  

 

Laura Lesage  

Associate Director of Residential Facilities & Capital Development  

 

Payne Hiraldo 
 

Associate Director of Residential Education