Opinion > November 15, 2007

By Carlos Maza | Guest columnist

Having a late night study session? Picking up a book from a friend early in the morning? Having sex in your room? Not anymore.

The recent decision by Residence Life and Housing to enforce a draconian policy that’s been on the books for years (likely a throwback to the university’s Baptist days) but has never, until this year, been adamantly enforced by RA’s, prohibits the presence of a member of the opposite sex in the room of another student during the late hours of night on weekdays.

Many were surprised to hear the announcement of the visitation policy, which prohibits students from having members of the opposite sex in their dorm rooms from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Though the rule has been in place for years, it appears that this year marks the beginning of a new push to actively enforce it. Many students aren’t even aware of the rule, or at least were not until they were forced to face its penalty.

Breaking the visitation policy causes the student to be written up and fined. Multiple violations could result in the student losing his right to on-campus housing.

This policy should be abandoned for a few reasons.

First, it’s overly broad. Punishing students before 10 a.m. means that even those who wish to study together at 8:30 a.m. before class are subject to punishment. Even if the school believes the policy is important, it should clearly be reformed to allow for more flexible curfew hours.

Second, it’s selectively enforced. Most students don’t know about the policy because their RAs simply refuse to enforce it. Horror stories derive from those few students who are unfortunate enough to have to deal with overzealous RAs who seek out and punish offenders. Even if the policy is justified in the administration’s opinion, selective enforcement that penalizes students unfortunate enough to face aggressive RAs is simply unacceptable.

Third, its wording is dated and exclusionary. It is safe to assume that the intent of the policy is to prevent students from engaging in sexual activity on school nights. The wording does nothing to take account for same-sex couples, mirroring the hetero-centric intent of the original crafters of the policy.

Finally, the policy isn’t even necessary. Without it, roommates could still enforce basic rights if their cohabitants were excessively noisy or disrespectful while interacting with opposite-sex visitors past curfew times.

So, what’s to be done? Students are already petitioning and planning to make a formal case to the administration in an effort to repeal the policy. Others, however, are planning to take a more Gandhian path – civil disobedience.

On Nov. 15, two groups of students are preparing to systematically violate the policy in hopes of generating awareness and proving its absurd unenforceability. They are even inviting their RAs to crack down on them, distributing “Dear Friend” letters modeled off of Gandhi’s tactics. These letters will inform the RAs of what is occurring in order to provoke a response.

If you disagree with the school’s visitation policy, you should follow in stride. RAs won’t be able to deal with a campus full of violators, and this kind of pressure will force the administration to confront the policy’s absurdity. It can only stay on the books if we allow it to. An illegal campus-wide sleepover might be just the thing we need to get the job done.

Carlos Maza is a sophomore from Miami.