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2024-2025 Handbook Updates

Campus policies in the Student Handbook are reviewed annually and some policies may be updated, added, or deleted. These changes typically occur in August prior to the start of the academic year, however some changes or updates may occur throughout the year. It is our practice and goal to inform the community as soon as practical about any changes. This section provides an overview of some of the substantive changes to the Student Handbook for the 2024-2025 academic year. Note that many policies were updated to increased clarity, update relevant regulations, etc.  

  • The Community Expectations Policy has been introduced to better articulate our community expectations beyond the Honor Code, capture changes made by the Honor Board at the end of the 2023/2024 academic year, and to explicitly articulate the Direct Adjudication Path. 
  • The Student Group section was added to introduce a new definition of Student Groups, articulate some new policies, and capture long-standing policies related to the operation of student groups on campus not captured in the Handbook.
  • The student Access to Campus policy was added to capture policy about access to campus and clarify access locations and timings.
  • The Disability Services section was moved to the main stem of the Handbook menu (out of Academic Policies) and the Assistance Animal policy was added to capture practices related to assistance animals on campus.
  • The Grills, Bonfires, and Campfires section was updated to capture the use of grills on campus as well as the prohibition of bonfires and campfires by the town of Needham, based in part on the long-standing statewide burn ban.  
  • The Stewardship of Shared Spaces: Shop, Lab, Facilities, and Equipment Policies section was generally cleaned up and given some additional detail, including but not limited to:
  •  Specification that in addition to Shop spaces being closed from 2am-6am, Labs are also closed.
  • Further emphasis that students using Lab spaces for non-class projects need to coordinate with Lab Managers and let them know about after hours work.
  • It should be noted that the requirement for wearing shoes in buildings remains and is not new.

  • Each year Residence Life strives to improve the language within our polices and practices to set the community up for success.  Here are the following updates for 2024-2025:

    • Language around the safety testing of electrical devices has been updated from “UL listed” to requiring devices “meet OSHA recognized safety standards (such as UL, CSA, or CSPC)” as we are finding more manufactures choose these other safety standards over the UL Listing.  This is found in the Safety & Security section as well as Bedrooms &  Suites section.
    • In Safety & Security, clarification has been added to Doors, Locks & Lockouts around the safety of wiring in relation to doorways.  In compliance with fire safety regulations, we are prohibiting students from running wires under or around doors.  We have also outlined the process for granting a peer access to your room in an extenuating circumstance such as leaving your passport behind on winter break.
    • In Community Spaces you will find a new section dedicated to keeping Stairwells, Corridors, & Elevators safe.  You will also find updates to the Waste Station & Cleaning supplies section to reflect new updates to the waste stations in the residence halls which were developed with the EcoReps and Sustainability team this summer.  We have also added a community standard to the opening of this section around returning community items, such as pots & pans from the kitchen, Go-Bikes, or video game equipment, with the goal of all items being returned within 48 hours of the initial borrow.
    • In Bedrooms & Suites, Bed Lofting language has been updated to better reflect the bed loft check-out process successfully tested out last year.
    • Summer Housing eligibility and prioritization has been added to the Summer Housing section.
    • As noted above, the policy for assistance animals on campus has been included in the handbook in its full extent in place of the prior paragraph describing the policy for easier access to all students.
  • The CORe/Student Government section was updated to reflect structural changes implemented for the 2024-2025 year.
  • The Use of the Olin College Name, Logo and Branding policy was added to clarify an existing OsCom policy not previously captured in the Handbook. 
  • The Library Policies were substantially overhauled to cover many aspects of Library Policy that had either previously been unwritten or conveyed elsewhere.
  • The IT policy was minimally updated to remove items such as "Users shall not divulge “Dialup” or “Dialback” modem phone numbers to anyone outside of the Olin community."
  • The Sexual and Interpersonal Misconduct and Title IX Policy was updated to reflect that changes that went into effect in August.
  • Minor changes were made to the Posting policy to clarify some points of confusion.