You can’t crash here

Students voice pros, cons of University Housing’s policy on overnight guests in residence halls

Georgia College has written guidelines laying out the rules of having guests in the dorms, but it is hard to say if they are enforced or followed. The guidelines state that visitors are allowed in the dorms from Monday through Thursday with the permission of the roommate or suitemate.

Hours for visitation during this time period are from 10 a.m. to midnight, on weekends the hours are from 10 a.m. Friday until Sunday at midnight. This means that guests can only stay overnight on the weekends and it is also stated that students may only host guests for two nights during a 14-day period according to McClanahan.

It is also required that guests be escorted by their hosts at all times and must always have permission of the roommates and suitemates for the guest to spend time in the room.

Community Advisors are set to enforce these regulations, but it seems the situation often goes unnoticed. It is often the case that residents in the dorm will not complain about guests in fear of causing a bad relationship with their roommates or suitemates. This can lead to hurt feelings and pent up anger, which often leads to a confrontation.

“Guests can be a common topic of disagreement among roommates,” Housing Marketing Coordinator Cindy McClanahan said. “Many of our residents have never had to share a space with another person the way you do in a residence hall, so understanding boundaries in regards to guests is a learned skill.”

According to McClanahan, students often complain about roommates having guests over and the guests end up overstaying their welcome. It seems to be especially problematic when the guest is a significant other; this causes problems outside of a person being in the room frequently. It is these occurrences when residents often feel most disrespected.

“The only time guests get problematic is if the guest is a significant other. We have decided they are welcome to stay, but PDA is not allowed while the other roommate is present,” freshman nursing major Kelly Woods said about the rules that she has made with her roommate.

Other students seem to feel the same way, although some say it depends on the closeness of their roommate relationship.

“A dorm room is a space to be shared and used at everyone’s highest convenience,” freshman mass communications major Alannah

Gardner said. “We all want to be the ‘cool’ roommate but I think if we are honest with our roommates and ourselves, we would say that guests are great, just not in the dorms.”

However, some roommates don’t encounter arguments about guests staying over.

“It doesn’t bother me at all, because I know my roommate really well and we have the same kind of friends,” sophomore health education major Catherine Hrabak said. “I know I would get along with anyone she had over.”

Residents are given a roommate/suitemate agreement upon moving in to set guidelines and talk about cooperating in the living situation. It helps tremendously if residents communicate well with each other and talk about an issue as soon as it arises, rather than let it snowball out of control.

According to McClanahan, it is important that guests always be respectful of their hosts’ roommates and suitemates. If a host communicates to her guest the guidelines set up with her roommate, things will flow more smoothly.

If the problem is reoccurring and the roommate continues to allow the guest to stay without the roommate’s consent, then McClanahan says, “they will visit with their Community Director and possibly be sent through the student conduct process.”

Posted by Sarah Kelehear on Nov 10 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.