As expected, the new semester brought new classes, new professors, and in some cases, new friends. What came as a surprise were new Residence Life policies that pose a win-lose situation for students dwelling in the halls of the Residence Village.
Last semester, residence students were allowed visitors from 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Sundays through Thursdays, and 6:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. However, Residence Life apparently saw a need for change this semester and worked out a new policy that seems to hit middle-ground for students and appears to be aimed to benefit on-campus students more than anyone else.
As of this semester, students are allowed non-residents visitors until midnight and resident visitors until 2 a.m. all week long. So basically, those that know a lot of commuters or have friends outside of St. John’s, will be feeling the brunt of this new policy. On the other hand, those with mostly on-campus pals will benefit greatly from this change.
It’s a bit questionable as to why they limited the non-resident visitation rules, especially since the only two days the policy affects most students are Friday and Saturday. The weekend is when everything happens. That’s when students can unwind and let loose after a long week of classes. Just because it’s a new semester does not mean we have any less non-resident friends, nor does it mean we do not want to have those same friends over until 2 a.m. on the weekends. If I’m not mistaken, the Q46 did not stop running at midnight on Jan. 18.
The basic question is, why? Why give the non-residents the short end of the stick? What was the point? If anything, impose this rule on non-SJU visitors. Cutting off the rest of the non-resident students almost seems futile.
Freshman Michael Shove said “It’s getting better, with room for more improvement. If we cooperate enough, we might be able to get them to expand our liberties. They should balance it with residents and non-residents and even out the times.”
On top of the new visitation hours to adhere to, residents are now allowed two visitors at a time, rather than one, which was the law of the land last semester. Simply put, there is no downside to this new rule in itself. Unfortunately, this rule is accompanied by a rule forcing students to be present when their visitors sign out.
The new policies do a valiant job of balancing out the visitation rules by taking a little, while giving back a fair amount.
But still, non-residents should be allowed to stay until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. We pay how much to live on campus? Let us enjoy our weekends the way we want to-within reason.
