Undergrads upset over spot checks

It was 7am when she heard a knock on her dormitory door.

Drowsy and in her pyjamas, the 21-year-old Nanyang Technological University (NTU) undergraduate wondered who it could be, as her roommate was still asleep.

When she opened the door, she found a female hall officer and a male hall security officer.

"Room check," they said, before entering the room.

Following a The New Paper report last month that residents were renting out their rooms for profit, TNP understands that NTU has been conducting surprise checks at its 16 hostels, known as halls of residence.

The halls accommodate more than 9,200 local and foreign students.

Some students said these surprise checks were being done between 1am and 7am at NTU and they have voiced their displeasure online as they felt their privacy was being invaded by hall officers.

NTU has denied that the checks were conducted during that time. A spokesman said the checks usually occur at 6am to 7am.

The undergrad who had to open her door at 7am, a materials science and engineering student who wanted to be known only as Miss Tan, said: "I was quite irritated by it because it was so early in the morning. If I'd had a test that day, I would have been really upset."

She said that her roommate, who was still asleep then, was forced to wake up to show her matriculation card to prove she belonged in the room. Only then did the hall officers leave.

An NTU spokesman said: "The checks are to ensure that there is no overcrowding in the room and that people who no longer need the hall room are not 'hoarding' it or profiteering from it."

To do this, hall officers knock on the door of a randomly-picked room, quiz the occupants and check their student particulars to see if they are the official residents.

Some students have gone online to criticise the university's methods and the alleged timings of the checks, calling the checks "hall raids".

But the NTU spokesman said one of the terms and conditions when students apply for a hostel room is that random checks may be carried out.

A student, who wanted to be known only as June, said hall authorities have no choice but to conduct checks because "otherwise the illegal squatter can simply claim he is just visiting".

VISITING HOURS

Visiting hours are from 7.30am to 11.30pm. All guests are to leave by 11.30pm, otherwise the resident is liable to eviction from the hostel.

"The checks can get very thorough," added June, a former hall committee member.

Miss Tan believes her room was targeted because there were many pairs of footwear outside her room, all of which belonged to her and her roommate.

Mr Mars Khien, 24, a fourth-year information engineering and media student, said that the checks were done "at ridiculous timings".

He added: (They) are very disruptive to our schooling life."

The Vietnamese student, who is here on a scholarship, even directed a tongue-in-cheek short film showing how illegal squatters could avoid discovery during the checks by hiding in cupboards or under luggage.

Mr Khien said he got the idea from reading posts on the "NTU Confessions" Facebook page.

"I saw that students had many creative ways of hiding from the authorities," said Mr Khien.

"One even described how they would hop onto a landing outside the window (to avoid detection). That's why I decided to make a video just for fun to show these techniques."

Miss Tan hopes the early morning checks are a temporary thing and won't happen to her again.

"I can understand why hall officers have to do it, but please don't wake me up so early again," she said.

Get The New Paper for more stories.