When did the lives of adults become dictated by fine print that is so fine, frankly, it's almost impossible to find?
Housing policies define a guest as (those) who come to see you from out of town and will be staying with you in the hall. Complementing that is the restriction of the number of guests allowed in a room. It can not exceed the number of room residents. I would consider that a pretty acceptable rule. The policy goes on to note that guests are the responsibility of whoever is hosting them.
Somehow a small clause was apparently left out of the Student Guide to Residential Living from www.ohio.edu as well as the numerous flyers decorating the residence hall walls that provide guidelines and rules.
Students cannot have a guest of the opposite sex stay with them, excluding the weekend of Halloween and Sibs weekend. After checking with several sources, this rule was finally revealed. I must say it wasn't an easy one to find. What's the problem with this rule, you might wonder? The rule is outdated and completely nonsensical.
We are now living in a community of several thousand adults. We may not own these dorms, but we are paying for our stay here. What goes on in the rooms, in terms of who is staying overnight, should be entirely up to those living in the room, although adherence to the above restrictions from www.ohio.edu is well advised and sensible.
The only person on the entire campus a guest's stay can truly affect is that of the host's roommate. Once the guest's stay is worked out between the two (or three, four or possibly none), then who is to say who can and cannot stay overnight in the dorms? Obviously, I realize that certain circumstances in which the guest becomes unruly, violent, abusive or anything unwanted, actions should be taken by authoritative figures.
Apparently the rule has been in effect for quite some time, much to the lack of knowledge of most people on campus. A while ago, nervous parents proposed ideas banning the stay of opposite sex guests. I'd like to point out to these parents that your children (almost all of them, depending on where they live) live right down the hall from members of the opposite sex. A mere stone's throw away may lie the den of inequity and premarital sex. Oh my!
The bottom line is, this is college. Whatever activities this rule is supposedly regulating can be achieved rather quickly with a short walk down the hall. This rule lacks any logic. Whatever argument one may try to use in support of this rule can be countered easily by the fact that the conditions dorm residents live in do not prohibit anything about overnight visitors. Visitors are allowed to visit 24 hours a day
seven days a week.
The only difference between a visitor and a guest is the location from which they are coming. Why ban one and not the other? This archaic rule has no place in our community.Eric Sandy is a freshman journalism major. 17
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