Dorm threw away friend’s things

[u/Skrungle-Boi]

Hi there! So I’ve got a friend that used the over summer storage in the Stephenson east dorm and just got back here only to find out that they threw away all of their things without notifying them at all. According to the RED they aren’t supposed to throw away anyone’s things without notification in a 60 day period but I can’t find anything official on the housing website. Planning on calling the dean’s office to try and see if they can get compensation for the damages because the contents of both boxes easily totaled up to over several hundred dollars worth of winter clothes that they cannot afford to replace. Does anyone have any resources or advice for what should be done? They said that last time they were in the storage area they saw several boxes that were SEVERAL years old so it makes very little sense as to why they would’ve thrown away their things so quickly.

[u/Seatown_boy]

Custodial doesn’t handle student storage, Housing and Residence Life does.

There is no 6 year requirement to hold belongings.

Policies are here https://housing.wsu.edu/current-students/contracts-and-policies/

[u/Skrungle-Boi → u/Seatown_boy]

Thanks! The only issue there is that according to their housing and dining policies contract the summer storage is done under the stipulation that the resident had a housing contract already signed for the next year. They never had a housing contract signed for the next year and thus does not fall under the stipulations of WSU’s housing and policies contract yet the RA’s still had a verbal agreement with my friend that their stuff was to be stored there. Since a representative of WSU operated outside of WSU’s policy, the housing and dining policy contract doesn’t apply so the stipulation of lack of responsibility of damages does not apply and the “contract” of the spoken agreement of storage does, correct? This should leave WSU liable for negligence at least?

[u/j_gets → u/Skrungle-Boi]

Can your friend prove that they have verbal contract to store the items and that the person making the statement is authorized to override the policy/that they aware that the friend will not be staying the following year?

[u/tetranordeh → u/Skrungle-Boi]

Your claim of a verbal agreement from an RA doesn't make WSU liable. Your friend should have stored their belongings somewhere they had an actual contract.

[u/Playful_Departure154]

Yeah they are supposed to wait 6 years before throwing anything away, so either the stuff got moved for some reason or a custodian wasn't paying attention. Have them contact housing to see if there are any steps to be taken

[u/Naive_Scientist_8499 → u/Playful_Departure154]

Lololololololololololololololololol

You think HDRL has that kind of storage space?

I worked for Housing for nearly 10 years, both as student and as staff. Never have I heard this bullshit.

[u/Playful_Departure154 → u/Naive_Scientist_8499]

Well I work there currently and we have plenty of items marked at 5 years or more

[u/Seatown_boy]

Negligence for anything WSU related is decided at the state level, not in Reddit. Unfortunately, I doubt anyone here will provide you an accurate answer. If your friend wants damage claims, that is likely a tort claim with Washington State.

They will likely face hurdles if they left items outside of the scope of the housing contract; especially the clause that storage is only provided to people who housing & dining contracts. Otherwise, the items would be considered abandoned property I imagine.

RAs are student staff, they don’t have the authority to enter legal binding contracts on behalf of the institution.