ASU Residential Life's policy banning all messages from residence hall windows has not changed since it was created in 1999, according to top Residential Life officials.
Residential Life Director Kevin Cook said the policy was not enforced more heavily because of the Oct. 13 presidential debate, but he said students noticed the policy more because of all of the political discussions surrounding the event.
Cook said students who want to hang a sign in their windows should go to their hall coordinator and hall council to get permission to display a sign.
"What's interesting is the degree to which students exercise their right to [oppose] the policy versus what's there," Cook said. "How many have approached their hall council? You have to remember that's a community. Community members decide what community members do."
Residential Life Assistant Director Sylvester Chestnut said "very inappropriate language" appeared in some windows along University Drive in Manzanita Hall in 1998, leading to the creation of the policy in 1999.
"It was folks that lived in that community that complained," Chestnut said. "When parents come here, they really don't like to see that being reflected on them. It has a larger effect with students that live in the neighborhood as well as faculty."
Students had coordinated their room windows so that each window formed one letter of a message, said Cook, who added that he didn't remember what the message was.
Cook said he received "between one and 1,000" complaints regarding the message.
The policy originally put in the Residential Life Student Handbook asked students not to put any signs in windows, Chestnut said. Chestnut said Residential Life worked with students in the Residence Hall Association and in the community to design the rule at all stages of its development.
RHA is a student-run group that lobbies for student interests within Residential Life.
Chestnut said he worked with RHA on an amendment to the policy in 2003 to state that all flags were also banned from windows because some students were confused about the rule. Chestnut said it didn't change enforcement of the policy.
"We began to identify new things in 2002," Chestnut said. "If you look at the language in the hall policy, it was just a matter of clarification for the residents."
Chestnut said the policy allows "unaltered American flags" to be displayed in windows.
One Resident Assistant, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being fired, said the explanation for the recent controversy about the policy is "most definitely the debate."
The RA said the policy is understandable but should be enforced consistently.
The policy also ignores any potential positive effects of displaying signs, the RA said.
"If campaign signs are all over the place, it'll only show how politically active this campus is," the RA said.
Another RA said students should try to work with the policy or move out of the dorms.
Students can still display signs on doors, the RA added.
"I think it's being blown out of proportion," the RA said about the policy. "[Students] have to abide by Residential Life's rules. Those students have a choice -- students always have a choice. They can live off campus."
But human nutrition senior Wendy Rangitsch said she lived in Manzanita Hall as a freshman and said she believes that the policy is intended to prevent ASU from looking like it prefers one political party to another.
"My freshman year, people had things in their windows, and no one said anything about it," Rangitsch said. "It seems ridiculous that they're enforcing it now."
Reach the reporter at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.
