By Sgt. James David with Matt Bertram
Hello and welcome to Carolina. My name is Sergeant James David, and I serve with the UNC Police Department here at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a proud Carolina alum, I’m especially excited to welcome you to this incredible campus and community. You’re beginning a journey that will challenge and reward you in countless ways, and I want you to know that your safety is our number one priority. At UNC Police, we believe in two things above all else when it comes to keeping our campus safe: communication and empowerment. Our goal is to make sure every student knows how to access the safety tools and support systems that are available to them from the very first day.
One of the most important things you should know is that we operate a dedicated 911 Emergency Communications Center right here on campus. That means if you ever call 911 from your cell phone or from any campus phone while you’re on university grounds, the call goes directly to trained UNC Police telecommunicators who are familiar with the campus layout and can dispatch help quickly and effectively. This campus-specific 911 center is a critical first line of communication and ensures a faster and more informed emergency response.
Another major resource I encourage you to take advantage of is the Carolina Ready Safety App. This mobile app brings a wide range of safety tools right to your fingertips. You can report suspicious activity, receive emergency notifications, and access support services all from your phone. It also connects you directly with our SafeWalk program, which is run by pairs of trained UNC students who can accompany you anywhere on campus or even into the nearby Chapel Hill area if you’re walking late at night. Whether you’re leaving the library, a study group, or a social event, SafeWalk is a smart and supportive way to get home safely.
When it comes to your residence hall, security is a top priority. All of our on-campus housing buildings are access-controlled 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That means the exterior doors are locked at all times, and entry is only granted through an electronic key fob issued to each resident. Only those who live in the building or who are approved staff members such as Resident Advisors, Community Directors, and UNC Police personnel can enter. This system helps protect your personal space and ensures that only those with a legitimate reason to be there can access the building.
As you walk around campus, you may notice security cameras installed in various locations, especially inside residence halls and public spaces. These cameras are not there to monitor your day-to-day life but are instead intended to give our department an extra set of eyes in case we ever need to review footage as part of an investigation. Their presence helps support the overall safety of our community and can serve as a valuable tool when something needs to be looked into further.
You’ll also see emergency blue light call boxes located across campus, often near residence halls and academic buildings. These tall poles have an emergency button and an intercom system that connects you directly to our UNC 911 Center. Once activated, one of our telecommunicators will speak with you through the intercom while dispatching an officer to your exact location to assist with whatever situation you may be experiencing. These call boxes are always available and offer another way for you to quickly get help if needed.
At the UNC Police Department, we view every student as part of our community. We are here not just to respond in emergencies but to build relationships, offer guidance, and ensure that you feel supported throughout your time at Carolina. This is a place where you will grow academically, personally, and socially, and we want you to feel confident every step of the way. If you ever have a question, concern, or simply want to learn more about how we serve the campus, please do not hesitate to reach out. You are never alone here. We’re proud to be part of your Carolina experience, and we’re honored to help keep you safe.
Welcome to the Tar Heel community. I know you’re going to make the most of your time here, and I’m glad you’re with us.
– Sgt. James David UNC Police Department
Click here to continue to Episode 9: What Your Service Desk Can Do for You
Hey Tar Heels!
As you prepare to move in for the fall semester, consider looking into Storage Squad! Avoid bringing everything in a packed car or shipping to a campus mailroom and instead use direct-to-dorm services. Things such as bedding, storage bins, towels & toiletries, mini fridge, microwave, seasonal clothing and dorm decor can be sent and will be waiting for you at your residence hall on the day of move-in!
Room Direct by Storage Squad ships everything to directly to your room! They also include free packing kits, tracking and insurance. When you show up to your residence hall, your room will be ready to go!
If you’re interested in using Storage Squad, you can sign up online and get your free packing kit (or ship from retailers directly), label boxes with your information and then relax. They will hold your items safely and deliver them to your room on move-in day.
For more information and to sign up, head to the Storage Squad Website.
Hey Carolina Housing! My name is Haedyn Mills! I am one of the Spring 2025 Marketing Interns and a sophomore here at UNC. As my time on the Carolina Housing team is coming to an end, I wanted to share why I have chosen to live on campus all four years here at Carolina.
Here’s a little bit of background on my on-campus living experiences and how these have influenced my decision to stay on campus.
My Time in Hinton James Residence Hall
I participated in a program called Carolina Global Launch where I spent my first semester abroad at the University of Stirling in Scotland! This was an amazing experience where I got to explore the world around me, but I was really nervous about coming back to Carolina halfway through the year.
I always knew that I had wanted to come to UNC and was excited about living in a building with all freshmen. In one of my journals in middle school, I had drawn out the floor plan of the rooms based on one of the South Campus residence halls here and had decorated it on the page how I wanted it. So, when it came to figuring out where I wanted to stay, I knew I wanted to live on South Campus. My housing application process was very different from most students’ here at UNC as I had to do it halfway through the year, but I ended up exactly where I wanted to be!
When I got to UNC me and one of the other girls in my study abroad cohort were able to be suitemates, and I got matched randomly with my roommate. We immediately clicked and became extremely close friends and my friend from study abroad and I were able to bring in my new roommate to our friend group.
My time in Hinton James was one of exciting experiences, adventures and side quests. I 100% recommend living in Hinton James as a freshman because you are so close to so many other people who want to make friends with you and who are in the same stage of life here in Carolina that you are.
My Time in Teague Residence Hall
I am currently living in Teague Residence Hall which is located Mid Campus near the
Kenan Football Stadium. As a sophomore, this is the perfect location for campus because it’s near everything.
I knew I wanted to live in this area of campus, and my friends and I ended up all getting placed here but spread out throughout the building. As someone who had experienced having a random roommate before, I was not worried about this in the slightest! My current roommate and I are very close friends so I knew I would be able to make a new friend with my random roommate and still have a solid support system.
My favorite part of living in this area is that I am close to all of the sports games. As a big sports fan and Carolina Fever point collector, this has been the perfect space. I can walk out to my “backyard” which is essentially Dorrance Soccer Field and collect the points. With living so close and getting points I was able to be in the top 200 people in the school who went to the most sporting events and was able to be second row at the Duke v. UNC basketball game.
My time living here has been full of so many fun sporting events and memories with my friends. This side of campus means I am only ever a short walk from just about everything, and it is in between both of the gyms and dining halls.
My Future in Rams Village Apartments
Next year I am so excited to be living with my friends, one of which was my random roommate freshman year in one of the Rams Village Apartments. We are all looking forward to the location right next to the Dean Smith Center for attending basketball games, and of course the unique lifestyle living in an on-campus apartment will provide.
My roommates and I plan on renewing our rooms for our senior year too because we love living on campus.
I also feel like you don’t need this because freshmen are required to live on campus. Living on campus allows you to get involved and go to events like sports games and club meetings without driving or walking far distances. For a lot of people, undergrad is the only time they will have the opportunity to live on campus.
I highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to live on campus and enjoy your time here. College is usually only four years of your life. Why not spend it with the Carolina Housing community; it has truly felt like family! Go Heels!
Starting school at UNC was a big change for me. New people, a new environment, and more importantly a new place to call home. I remember signing up for housing in May before the following school year, and thinking “Wow, I will be living in one of these dorms this time next year.” While it is crazy to think about now, I never imagined the ways I would be impacted by my housing decisions. I have heard so many different stories about people’s experiences with roommates. When I filled out the roommate form, it was reassuring to see that schedules, preferences, and even habits were considered when deciding to go with a random roommate. Carolina Housing had a perfectly curated questionnaire that eased my mind with the decision of having a random roommate.
Now, in June, we were t-minus two months to moving in. I checked my housing portal and saw my fate, “Roommate Information: below if applicable.” I saw the name of the person I would be living with for the next year. I texted her first to get the conversation rolling. We hit it off. I was in town for orientation in July, and she drove over from Raleigh to meet up. We decided to get dinner at Cane’s even though she was vegan... iconic first dinner choice, to say the least. We went to Insomnia afterward and snacked on cookies when we sat on the quad and started to discuss our living habits and preferences. We both loved romantic T.V., like the show “One Day” on Netflix, which was a constant watch in our first semester. After we parted ways that night, I called my mom and was eager to share that we got along so well. Little did I know a great friendship awaited us.
Fast forward to August, and it was finally move in time! Marina and I moved in and began our iconic roommate story. During the first few weeks of classes, we spent every second together. We got dinner together every night and went to maybe a few too many CLE events. A big facet of our friendship was based on the fact that we lived together. In September, Marina mentioned that she would be studying abroad in the Spring through Carolina’s Spring Forward Program. She was going to be heading to Stirling, Scotland. I was heartbroken! We had become friends so quickly and were constantly laughing with one another, and I worried “If we were thousands of miles apart from one another would we still be friends?”
In December when it was time for finals, we were reminiscing on our amazing semester together, and the fact that she would soon be leaving for her Stirling semester. We enjoyed the moment and celebrated our last nights as roommates together. Marina left in mid-January for Scotland but was able to come visit and have a sleepover one last time in our dorm. We went to Cosmic Cantina and Yopo for her send-off. One too many CLE events later. This time a Halloween quad special with face painting! Ft. our RA’s great face painting!
With modern technology, our friendship would become even stronger despite the distance.
WhatsApp has become my favorite app. We send vlogs and pictures to one another every day outlining random things like grocery shopping, schoolwork, or even just an audible list of things we needed to get done. I can safely say we have sent at least a combined 100 videos while she has been abroad. We also decided to start having weekly video calls to keep up with each other and everything we are doing. We usually call every Sunday and can stay on the phone for up to an hour talking about our weeks.
I am so grateful that Marina and I have stayed in touch throughout her semester abroad!
Carolina Housing paved the way for this amazing friendship, and I’ll be forever grateful to the random roommate assigner who made that decision to pair Marina and me. I have a friend for life, and some of the best memories that made moving to a big new school ten times easier.
Shoutout to Random Roommate assignment for this amazing new friendship! Marina and I might just be the living proof that random roommate assignments can work out!
Cheers, Allie 🙂
Written by: Janice Kim, External Affairs Officer || Residence Hall Association
Move-In is fast approaching (Aug.12 - 17) ! Before you know it, you will be walking up to your Residence Hall, carrying your boxes and bags of clothes and essential supplies for on-campus living. If you’re heading off to college for the first time this year, I’m sure you’re wondering what to bring. For the official list, check out of the Carolina Housing 21-22 Move-In Guide.
While everyone is different, here are some top 10 essentials I’ve found useful during my past several years living on campus.
I’m sure you’ve heard people telling you to bring shower shoes for shared res hall bathrooms.
Well, I found that UNC res hall bathrooms are actually quite clean, but I needed those shower shoes to prevent me from slipping IN the bathroom.
But why buy shoes that only work for in the bathroom? Why not buy some that you can slip on to class on a rainy day? My style of choice: Crocs. But rubber flip flops, slides or clogs have proven to be extremely handy not just as shower shoes, but as a quick slip on shoe when you’re running late to class.
Whether you’re trying to get that mid-day snooze in or your roommate is up late studying, sometimes you need a little extra help falling asleep. I found that having an eye mask can be really helpful when I’m feeling distracted and can’t get the quality sleep I need.
When you get to college, you will really begin to appreciate your parents helping you do the laundry!
Did you know some clothing items should NOT be put in the dryer? I certainly did not my freshmen year and let’s say, I have had a few clothing items I had to part with in my first couple weeks on campus.
While using the dryers is convenient, there are clothing items that are meant to be hung up to dry, so having a small drying rack in my room was the best investment I made in my room.
A three-pronged power strip is the only type allowed in your room. You have a lot of appliances you need to plug in your room: your mini-fridge, your microwave, your TV, your phone charger, your laptop, your lamp, your other lamp…the list goes on.
A power strip allows you to have more outlets to plug these appliances in rather than having to deal with the process of unplugging your phone charger just to charge your laptop instead. Carolina Housing does require you to get a three-pronged power-strip rather than a two-pronged, so double check before moving in!
Don’t underestimate the importance of under-the-bed storage. While some of you may decide to loft your bed and store your desk or a couch underneath, I found that an effective use of space was to raise my bed slightly have some plastic containers underneath. This made transitioning during the different seasons super easy because I didn’t need my mom to mail me all of my winter throw blankets. Instead, I had them right under my bed ready for me when the winter chills came along.
I don’t know about you, but I love coffee. I like my warm morning coffee (despite the blistering NC summer heat) and an iced vanilla latte in the afternoon. While supporting the local coffee shops on Franklin & Carrboro Streets are great (I definitely recommend you check out Perennial, Epilogue, Gray Squirrel, and Open Eye), it can get pricey…fast. I found that a Keurig was a great investment because, not only do I get my hot AND iced coffee, but you can do SO MUCH MORE! Pro Tip: make the hot coffee ahead of time and pop it in a mason jar and into the fridge for later that day!
You can make oatmeal, hot chocolate, and instant ramen all using the hot water from the Keurig. It’s ~magical~ and you will fall in love with your Keurig as much as I did.
A shower caddy is a great way to organize and carry more than just your shower necessities. They can be used to organize and carry your make-up, snacks, card games, etc.
My snack caddy is my best friend. I keep all of my favorite grab and go goodies in there. It is easy to store and super convenient to pass around the room when hanging out with my friends!
All the dorm rooms have hard-surface floors and while some of you may choose to put down rugs, you will still want to sweep your room. I found that a Swiffer was an easy way to do this because it’s easily maneuvered, and it isn’t as heavy as pushing around a vacuum every week. Additionally, its easy to store and doesn’t take up much space. Reusable cloth dusters can be tossed in with your laundry and you don’t have to worry about keeping up with filters for your vacuum or purchasing refills for the one-use dry cloths (also a great way to be more sustainable!).
An added plus: it’s quiet! You can clean at anytime (I know because I sometimes have random 3 am cleaning moments) without a noise complaint!
The extra-long charging cable is a must…especially if you’re lofting your bed. Imagine lying in bed and wanting to see a message your friend sent about class and having to climb all the way back down to read it. This is when the extra-long charging cable comes in and saves the day!
While I didn’t loft my bed, I found that the extra-long charging cable was awesome because I could charge my phone while sitting at my desk, even though my charger was plugged in by my bed.
I loved my desk organizers. I personally love having a clean and tidy space. Having desk organizers were amazing. Some of the res hall rooms do have desk shelving which made organization easier as well, but I loved being able to have a designated place on my desk for all of my small school supplies.
It’s It has got a dual purpose too as some more decorative additions to the room!
I hope this gave you some ideas about what items are essential and worth investing in as you go into your first year in the dorms. I promise you that at least one of these things you will find super handy during your time living on campus (you don’t have to thank me).
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start planning those decorations and making those shopping lists! Get excited! Move-in will be here before you know it.
Written by: Darshana Saravanan, 2020 – 2021 Marketing Board || Residence Hall Association
After spending the entire summer planning, shopping and packing, you are finally ready for Move-In Week at Carolina! While your Move-In day might be full of excitement and stress, you will want to remember the unforgettable moment forever! You don’t want to miss out on capturing these top 5 photo ops on your Move-In Day. Of course, make sure to maintain proper social distancing and safety precautions while doing so!
Room transformations are one of the most exciting parts about moving in and settling into your new home! Take a picture before unpacking and then one after you are done moving in to see how you have transformed an empty space into one that is all yours.
You don’t think about how much you will miss home. This picture always brings back those exciting feelings of what it was like to start the next chapter of your life. It also documents your awesome Tetris skills and that is a true accomplishment to remember!
Meeting the people you are going to live with for the following school year is an exciting and nerve wracking experience all in one! Whether these are your long-time friends, or complete strangers, taking a picture together to commemorate living together is a wonderful memory to have.
Your very first Residence Hall will be one you will never forget. Make sure to get a picture in front of your new home; a place where you will meet amazing people and make beautiful memories with your new Tar Heel fam!
And last, but not least, don’t forget to get that family picture as you finish up Move-In Day!
These photos ops will help you remember your Move-In day and can be great decorations for your room! Be sure to check out the Move-In Guide for more details about Move-In. We can’t wait to see you on campus!