housing and deployment/activation

[Zechariah]

I'm a National Guardsman in Louisiana, and we've already been warned that at the first sign of rain in the gulf, we'll be activated. Last fall, I had to drop out of school for Hurricane Katrina support. As a college student living in a dorm, I'll be required to maintain full-time status in school in order to stay in my dorm (part of my contract). In the rare event that this fall I'm put on orders and have to drop out of school (again), is there anything that says that they can't kick me out of the dorms?

[fozzy2]

A truly tricky question. The key problem would appear to be this: legal protections for activated soldiers against landlord actions probably don't apply, the odds are very high that as a dormitory resident you are not a "tenant" in a landlord/tenant situation, but rather a "licensee" of the university. Dorm contracts are written pretty expressly to give the school most of the power and benefits and the renter next to nothing, as far as the law is concerned. The courts have allowed that since dorms are seen as an exception to usual renting situations. I'll see if I can find anything on point but I don't recall hearing about this specific question before.

You may not need legal protection, however. Talk to the people at "residence life" (or whoever handles housing at your school) and explain your situation. They may be willing and able to make an exception of residency/credit requirements as long as you continue to pay rent. Most schools have been very flexible for activated soldiers, sometimes even surprisingly so.

If your school closes the dorms or orders an evacuation of them, then a different set of parameters might apply. Of course you wouldn't be there to evacuate (or move your stuff), but that is another question. Now, imagined being activated, told you are kicked out of the dorm, and then having your unit move in to your dorm! Now that would be something...

Originally Posted by fozzy2

A truly tricky question. The key problem would appear to be this: legal protections for activated soldiers against landlord actions probably don't apply, the odds are very high that as a dormitory resident you are not a "tenant" in a landlord/tenant situation, but rather a "licensee" of the university. Dorm contracts are written pretty expressly to give the school most of the power and benefits and the renter next to nothing, as far as the law is concerned. The courts have allowed that since dorms are seen as an exception to usual renting situations. I'll see if I can find anything on point but I don't recall hearing about this specific question before.

You may not need legal protection, however. Talk to the people at "residence life" (or whoever handles housing at your school) and explain your situation. They may be willing and able to make an exception of residency/credit requirements as long as you continue to pay rent. Most schools have been very flexible for activated soldiers, sometimes even surprisingly so.

If your school closes the dorms or orders an evacuation of them, then a different set of parameters might apply. Of course you wouldn't be there to evacuate (or move your stuff), but that is another question. Now, imagined being activated, told you are kicked out of the dorm, and then having your unit move in to your dorm! Now that would be something...

Fozzy gives good advice as usual. You might also want to post your question on the landlord/tennant forum on this site here is the link to get you started [url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/forumdisplay.php?f=42[/url]

In Fact I took the liberty of starting a thread, see ya there and as always

Good luck

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=319716[/url]

[Zechariah]

Thanks, pizzaguy and fozzy.

Either way, I'm seeing this as being a hairy situation which requires one of the following actions:

1) probably the simplest, my 1st Sergeant releases me from orders to go back to school

2) Talk to Res Life (possibly with the help of my 1SG) and they let me stay in the dorm even thought i'm not in school

3) Res Life is unwavering in their decision to kick me out, therefore, human resources better dedicated to the mission are diverted for a day to helping me move out, 1SG has to find me a new place to live, and move in; we later take Res Life to court, once again hindering the mission, since i can't be there.

4) Give Res Life the scenario for #3 and see if they really want to go through all that hassle or make an exception for me .

Thanks a bundle, ya'll.
Zechariah Brewer, SrA
236th CBCS, La ANG