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Reprinted from: Green Bay Press-Gazette
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/

February 25, 2005

UWGB dorm doors open wider for guests

University plans to update campus policy

By Cynthia Hodnett
chodnett@greenbaypressgazette.com

A rarely enforced rule prohibiting University of Wisconsin-Green Bay students from having overnight guests of the opposite sex in their dorm rooms is likely to become a thing of the past.

UWGB students and officials are updating the current policy, which will emphasize the need for students to let their roommates and Office of Residence Life know about their plans to have guests and visitors, said Glenn Gray, director of Residence Life. A revised policy is scheduled to be on the books by fall 2006.

Gray said the revision addresses some loopholes in the current policy. For example, the current policy allows gay and lesbian students with partners to visit them overnight but doesn't cover students whose partners are of the opposite sex.

The revised policy also would provide guidelines for resident assistants to follow whenever there's a disagreement between roommates about visitors or guests.

"When there's a number of students living together, sometimes there is a breakdown of communication," Gray said. "Sometimes students don't communicate when it's a good time for them to have guests over and when it's not. Obviously, the week of final exams isn't a good time for a guest."

Gray said he receives a few complaints from students about frequent visits by their roommates' guests.

"Of the incidents I handle, probably 1 in 10 have to do with an overnight guest, (such as) the guest of a roommate is using their personal things, that they are always there almost to point of residency, knowing the combination to their apartment," said Chad Gerner, a junior communication major. Gerner supervises several residence halls that primarily house freshmen and sophomores.

The current policy defines a visitor as someone staying 24 hours or less and a guest as someone staying overnight for 72 hours or less, Gray said.

Students can only have a guest of the same gender for up to three consecutive days. Exceptions may be made for parents or siblings of the opposite gender who wish to stay overnight. Students can have visitors of the opposite gender during a 24-hour period, but they can't stay overnight.

"The current policy makes parents more happy, but at the same time, we're all adults and can make our own decisions," said Katrina Newby, a junior communications major. Newby also is in charge of several resident assistants and is a resident assistant in Roy Downham Hall, which houses freshmen and sophomores. "But I think there needs to be a policy for people to follow, but one that's similar to the one at (other) UW schools."

UWGB is the only UW campus that doesn't allow students to have overnight guests of the opposite sex, Gray said.

Nathan Petrashek, president of the Residence Hall and Apartment Association, said the revised policy will address safety and security in campus housing.

"The new system needs to be easy for (residence hall assistants) to use so they can know who's in the building," said Petrashek, a junior political science and public administration major. "For example, if there's a fire in the building and they did a head count, they would know an extra person would be there."

Plans to revise the current housing policy come as more UWGB students are choosing to live on campus. Nearly 2,000 UWGB students will live on campus this academic year, according to the Office of Residence Life. The last three years have brought a 23 percent increase in the number of students living on campus, Gray said.

Examining the current policy was the idea of the Residence Hall and Apartment Association. The student group examines student policies each year and decided to focus on the overnight guest policy because it hadn't been reviewed in years, Petrashek said.

The group gathered recommendations from students about what they wanted to see in the revised policy.

UWGB's Residence Life is reviewing the recommendations and researching housing policies on nine other UW campuses, Gray said.

Though revising the current policy is long overdue, it won't have a major impact on students, Petrashek said.

"I don't think the (current) policy is something that most students really think about," he said. "I don't think they know that they are violating it. It's violated all the time but it's difficult to enforce. There are a lot more serious violations on campus like drinking on campus that are taken way more seriously."

Current campus housing guest/ visitor policy
• Nonresidents may be in on-campus residences only if they are visitors or guests of a resident.
• Students are responsible for the conduct of their guests and visitors.
• Students must be in the company of their guests and visitors in all public areas of the building.
• Visitors can be members of either gender.
• Overnight guests must be of the same gender as the host and must be registered at the Office of Residence Life.
• Overnight guests are permitted to stay 72 hours or less.

Recommendations for revising policy
• All roommates agree to allow overnight guest of the same or opposite gender on a case-by-case basis.
• The new policy must be easy to use by students (i.e., the procedures related to overnight guest registration, etc.).
• Online guest registration must be provided.
• Residence hall assistants must be made aware of the presence of overnight guests for safety and security reasons.

Source: UWGB Office of Residence Life