Spring Break
Residence halls get another chance at 24-hour visitation
By: Jessica McCann
Issue date: 1/29/07 Section: News
 Chris Griffin - Graphics Editor Matthew Youngblood - THE BATTALION |
On Monday, the polls will open for on-campus residents to decide whether to keep the current 9 a.m. through 2 a.m. visitation hours, or to allow visitors in the residence halls 24 hours a day. The revote comes after a policy change in the way RHA counts the votes.
The new "75-75" rule, if approved by the Department of Residence Life, will require 75 percent of total residents in a hall to vote before a policy change can be made. Of the voting residents, 75 percent must be in favor to change the visitation policy of their hall.
"In the past, a hall had to receive 90 percent of their total residents to vote before they could change their policies," said Brian Gibson, RHA president. "In the last vote, 80-85 percent of residents in most halls voted, but it wasn't enough to create a change. A lot of students were upset with the results."
Confusion following the initial vote on visitation policy in August 2006 prompted a push from the student body to revote. The RHA and Staff Council of the resident halls collaborated to make recommended changes to the way the votes of residents were being counted.
"When the vote came around the first time, I voted for it," said sophomore accounting major Jeff Lencioni. "I tried to get as many people as possible to vote for it, but too many didn't end up voting. I would kill for 24-hour visitation."
The 24-hour visitation policy will not affect other visitation rules currently in place at residence halls. Cohabitation of opposite sexes in rooms is prohibited, and visiting guests must be escorted at all times by a student resident. Although the dorm residents are voting this spring, in August 2007 the RHA will return to an annual vote on hall visitations policies, Gibson said.
On-campus students can vote online through the RHA website for a week, and the polls will close on Feb. 5. Hall residents will need their NetID and password to log in.
"I'm going to vote again and try to get everyone I know to vote as well," Lencioni said. "I would love to have 24-hour visitation.
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