Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Milton visitation hours to continue
By Aaron Chimbel
Staff Reporter

Milton Daniel Hall residents will enjoy their extended visitation hours for at least one more semester.

Artist Thornton, Milton Daniel Hall Director, said visitation hours extended by an all-hall vote Sept. 27 will remain in effect next semester.

Thornton said since there has not been a noticeable increase in visitation violations between the old policy and the new one. The current extended hours will last another semester.

“The men have stepped up to the plate and handled the responsibility,” Thornton said.

Associate Director of Residential Life Russell Elleven said Milton Daniel residents must re-vote to continue the extended hours in fall 2002, since Milton Daniel has a high turnover of residents from one academic year to the next.

A vote to change visitation requires two-thirds of all hall residents to approve it. Milton Daniel was the first hall to successfully change visitation hours.

The 325 male residents of Milton Daniel Hall approved new visitation hours by a vote of 241-16. The revised hours allow female guests to be guests in residents’ rooms at 10 a.m. everyday and stay until 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights, and until 1 a.m. Sunday to Thursday. The old policy allowed visitation from noon to 2 a.m. on weekends and from noon to midnight Sunday through Thursday.

Elleven said he thinks other hall directors would be receptive to having their visitation hours changed.

“(A visitation change) is entirely up to the halls,” Elleven said.

Sherley Hall and Jarvis Hall both tried last semester to change visitation hours, but were not successful.

The time changes Milton Daniel residents approved are the maximum allowed, according to a memo from Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills in May 2000. Prior to that students had no say in their hall’s visitation hours.

Milton Daniel Hall Council President Matt Freedman said the longer hours have been advantageous for studying and having friends over late on the weekends. The change in hours is what the residents wanted, he said.

Junior finance major and Milton Daniel Resident Assistant Ben Illian said he has not noticed any problems since the new visitation hours took effect.

Illian said he would like to see all the residence halls with a 24-hour visitation policy since college students should be treated as though they are responsible for their actions.

“If we went to 24-hour visitation, (having women spend the night) would happen a lot more,” Illian said.

Milton Daniel resident and sophomore history major Alex Johnson says he has not seen too much change under the new visitation policy. Although he says he hasn’t taken advantage of the extra hour of visitation, he said he thinks others may.

“I could foresee some abuse of that policy,” Johnson said.

Aaron Chimbel
a.a.chimbel@student.tcu.edu