Check-ins check out

In the fall, things will be changing in dorms on campus as new rules allow more freedom for residents.

“The Student Government Association and Resident Hall Association collaborative committee wrote two different bills, which were then passed by SGA to the administration,” said Kristy Brischke, the director of student organizations.

The two bills were developed by students and for students, suggesting the rules for the dorms become more similar to those of the apartments on campus.

“The first bill deals with the sign-in and sign-out process and the late night and overnight entry policies,” Brischke said. “(Students) will no longer have (to) sign in or out if (they) leave the residence hall after hours.”

In addition, there will no longer be restrictions on the number of late nights and overnights a student is allowed, she said.

“Essentially, we will not account for students via a written process, but the residence hall doors will lock at the same time as they do now,” Brischke said. “The second bill deals with implementing visitation hours. We will no longer have monthly open dorm night. Rather one day a week will be designated for visitation hours.”

The new rules will affect all resident students, whether they choose to have visitors of the opposite sex or not. New policies will have to be implemented in order to keep the privacy residents currently enjoy.

Resident assistants will have more responsibility to handle during visiting hours, and residents of the dorms, especially those with community bathrooms, will have to change some of their routines.

Donna Plank, associate dean of Student Development, understands the positive and negative effects the new changes may bring.

“A majority of residents expressed interest in an increase in visitation within the halls, so knowing that they have been heard will be a positive in itself,” she said. “Other benefits might be things like increased satisfaction with residence hall life and the ability to meet with a group that includes members of the opposite sex without having to go into a common area or leave the building. Negative impacts may come in the form of roommate-to-roommate conflict or disagreement over visitors in the room.”

The threat of roommate conflicts arising over the new policies was greatly considered when the bills were being written. 

“With visitation only being one day a week for a few hours, this will not be a great burden for our students,” Brischke said.

Reactions from students have been mixed as information about the new rules has spread across campus. Some are glad to have the new freedoms visitation and fewer rules will bring, while others see the regulations as conflicts in the making.

Sophomore history major, Lauren Pearson, sees the changes as positive and has experienced the difficulty of strict rules in the dorms in the past.

“From someone in a predominantly male major, having the ability to study with my classmates without working around the library and SUB schedules would have made these last two years much easier,” she said.

Pearson is glad to see modifications happen, but can see the difficulty in accommodating all situations that may arise.

“Some dorms I can see having difficulty with it,” she said. “I currently live in Stribling where there are community showers. I do believe that some (problems) could be easily fixed with a couple of dress code during visitation hours rules”

Junior communication major Holly Ridgeway serves as an RA in Remschel Hall.  She has mixed feelings about the rule changes because she can see through the perspectives of both a resident and RA.

“The RA's, in my opinion, will have less work to do with the removal of sign in and sign out,” she said. “(This) is an advantage to the students more than anything. I guess they won't feel as "watched" as they do now. I believe that it is a positive change for the RAs and students in that regard. However, for dorms that check their sign-in book for fire drills and tornado threats, we will have to find another system.”

Ridgeway sees the opportunity for more roommate problems than usual to arise due to disagreements about visitation, and believes the RAs will have to help in solving the conflicts.

“Resident assistants are pretty much first in line when it comes to dealing with student affairs,” she said. “I don't think that the RAs and students will have the same type of relationship anymore.”

The administration have all had to take safety, convenience and conflict into account when proposing and accepting the new changes. Regardless of the attitudes toward the rules, the movement of responsibility to the students is imminent.

“Change is inevitable. Without growth, we will remain stagnant,” Brischke said. “Our students have been asking for these types of changes for some time. After collecting survey data in order to get a real pulse of our students' desires and researching the policies of peer institutions, the Student Government Association and Resident Hall Association committee realized it was time to make these changes.”