Residence Halls to lock doors two hours earlier
Students used to staying out late and using a side entrance to enter their residence hall rooms might need to reconsider their after-hours plans.
This year, all exits other than the front doors for residence halls will be locked starting at 10 p.m. instead of at midnight. Students will also need their campus ID to swipe into their hall, rather than show a key like last year.
Any non-residents have to check in at the front desk as a guest. If someone does not have their campus ID, they would present their driver's license instead.
Shaun Holtgreive, executive director of Student Affairs, said moving the lock times from midnight to 10 p.m. decreases the chances of unwanted individuals being in “places they’re not supposed to be.”
“Last year working with Residence Hall Assembly and its leadership, we got feedback from the hall council and RHA and made the decision to (reduce the hours),” Holtgreive said. “We’ve been contemplating (the decision) for a while and that’s why the Towers were the first experiment with it.”
As of last year, the Towers was the only residence hall on campus which closed its side entrances at 10 p.m. Once it was seen that 10 p.m. worked for running the residence hall, Holtgreive said it was only natural to make the change in all of them.
“(The Towers is) the most difficult place to actually close and run those kinds of hours with, because it has so many entrances and exits,” Holtgreive said. “We figured if (reconfiguring hours) worked there, it would work anywhere. I suspect if we would have had a (negative) event, we would have (moved all of the residence hall hours) and not just done a trial.”
Students have been largely quiet and accepting of the change, and few have come with questions regarding the reasoning behind the moving of hours, said Director of the Office of Residence Life Kathleen Gardner.
“Students seem to want to understand the rationale behind it, especially if they’re returning,” Gardner said. “When we phrase it in terms of there wasn’t anything horrible that initiated (the change) and that we care about our students’ satisfaction and safety, they get it.”
Despite Gardner and Holtgrieve not hearing much from students regarding the change, others are unhappy with the new closing hours.
Merrill Hall Council President Amani Johnson said many students in his hall have come to him with complaints recent change. They have also asked what could be done to move the hours back to midnight.
“Most of the residents I’ve spoken to don’t like this new policy,” Johnson said. “Ten o’ clock is an unreasonable time to be closing the doors and I think that other students agree. For college students, 10 p.m. isn’t exactly late.”
For now, the policy will continue to be strictly enforced. For more information on residence halls policy, students can visit their page on cmich.edu.
