Students residing in dorms have complaints about visitation rules. According to the Residential Life Handbook, visitation is a privilege for the students. However, some students believe it should be a right.
Kylee Sieber, a resident of Joseph Z. and Louise H. Ornelas Residential Complex, said that the girls in her dorm complain that they pay $3,000 to live in the dorms and still have to follow visitation rules.
The visitation hours are 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. everyday through a check-in process. Each person wanting to check in has to have photo identification.
“A lot of the girls are upset because visitation is from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Most students get out of class at 2 p.m. and would like visitation to at least start earlier. We are sitting around with nothing to do until then, and I may want to go to bed earlier,” Sieber said.
The handbook mentions the purpose of visitation hours, which is “to ensure the comfort and security of all residents within the hall.”
The Department of Residential Life and Housing believes that if guests are present too early and too often that the comfort, safety and security of the dorms could be compromised. However, some students disagree.
“They say the reason is safety reasons, but what is the point of having cameras in the dorms,” said Lakeshia Tyler, a resident of Bateman Hall.
Another student from Bateman, Kelly McMillian, said that the girls are discussing a petition for 24-hour visitation.
There are possible challenges implementing 24-hour visitation.
Currently there are residential assistants assigned to each dorm hall and a residential director.
One of the residential assistants, Jeremy Guillory, said that it would put more stress on them.
“I understand the students want to expand their visitation because they are paying for the dorms, but if the students want that, it will put so much pressure on the RAs [residential assistants], RDs [residential directors] and Campus Safety. We have a life too,” Guillory said.
