New housing policies restrict students.
As a part of the fall 2020 semester’s health and safety plan, the university has restricted all guests and visitors from on-campus housing. I am the first to advocate for social distancing, wearing masks and limiting the number of people for social gatherings, but this policy has taken it a step too far.
For the past five months, most of us have been living with family members for the longest consecutive amount of time since we graduated high school, and just when we have the chance to feel some type of normality again, the university’s health and safety plans pull the rug right out from under us.
Yes, we’ll have roommates and hallmates, but restricting guests from outside of our campus housing prevents us from enjoying the sense of community that St. Joe’s has provided in past years.
Many of us, more specifically freshmen and sophomores, have no choice but to live in on-campus housing, and under these counterproductive policies. For juniors and seniors, it’s an affordable and easy option when off-campus housing can be difficult to maneuver with the cost of utilities and other essentials.
As we sign away our lives for loans, what exactly are we agreeing to when it comes to the housing portion? These new policies, along with the updated housing agreement, have instilled a sense of distrust within me when it comes to the university’s decisions and the contracts I blindly sign every year. The university’s standard guest policies already limited us to two guests at a time. I understand the incentive to try and keep us as safe as possible, but there are other areas the university could improve or focus on rather than restricting our social life.
To reiterate, I agree that masks should be mandatory, as they are used to protect others and ourselves from the potential spread of the virus. But the guest policy is not going to do that. What is to stop us from coming within six feet of someone outside of our housing? Or if we go out to coffee with our friends off-campus? Or if we visit our buildingmates? This policy isn’t going to prohibit us from having personal contact with others but encourage us to find other ways to see our friends, most likely in less safe ways.
If the university went about social situations the same way it does alcohol safety, by providing resources on how to drink responsibly, rather than prohibiting it completely, students would at least have the necessary information instead of actively thinking of ways to get around the policies.
I ask St. Joe’s not to let us have a free-for-all, but to allot us a bit of normality amidst the chaos we’re anticipating for the upcoming school year. Allowing one guest per resident room and encouraging safe habits would be a more viable solution than not allowing guests at all. This “slap on the wrist” is not protecting us but is encouraging navigation around the policies while confining students.
