rough draft

Freshman year of college requires a considerable amount of adjusting. Of these many adjustments, one in particular that is quite important is living in the dorms on campus. Students have to move out of the comfort of their home and into a small room that has to be shared with a complete stranger. Though this is proven to not be an impossible adjustment there are still issues to consider involving the dorms on campus. Problems such as the visitation hours in the dorm of the opposite sex, the fact that the dorms close for a whole month over the Christmas break, and that the dorms cannot be coed are common grievances of the students. These particular issues are often not considered problems that need to be addressed; but for many students they are, and a possible solution should be fairly heard.
Adjusting to living in the dorms is difficult enough. It’s tough having to compact all of your belongings in to half of a room that is only twelve by ten feet big. Then there is the roommate, who is usually a complete stranger and not always the same personality type. More often than not, these small adjustments work themselves out. On top of these adjustments though, students have to follow the visitation hours rule. Visitation hours are from twelve noon to midnight Sunday through Thursday and twelve noon to one a.m. Friday and Saturday. I don’t think that these are fair hours. We are not children and I don’t think that a guest should have to leave at midnight. Majority of the people that live in the dorms are awake past midnight every night anyway so disturbing people that are sleeping is not really an issue. Also, not being able to check a guest in until noon is absurd as well. Most residents are up and starting their day well before noon. I do not see the reason for mot allowing visitors before noon. I believe there are some simple adjustments that could make visitation hours more accommodating to the residents.
During the week, visitors should be able to check in by ten in the morning. Resident assistants are not on duty until noon but the university could offer the morning shift as a desk job for a student who is not a resident assistant or a resident assistant who wants extra hours. It would open up many job opportunities since the campus has several buildings of dorms. Curfew for visitors during the week should be later as well. Not just for friends to hang out but for students who are maybe studying or working on a project should have until at least one or one thirty. It would only require the office attendant to be on duty for another hour or so and would not cost the university very much. On the weekends, I think that visitors, male or female, should be aloud to sleep overnight in the dorm as long as the resident assistant on that floor knows about the visitor and it does not bother the roommate. Everyone living in the dorm is at least eighteen years of age and should be mature enough to handle that freedom.
Adjusting the visitation hours opens up concern about having coed dorms. Many other colleges have had coed dorms for years and have not seemed to have any major problems with it. Now I don’t thing male and females should live on the same floors but I think that separating it by floors or maybe having half the building boys and half girls would work just fine. Many of the dorms on campus like Scott Hall and Wilbur Hall could easily be split between males and females because they have two separate sides that connect in the middle. Some buildings could be offered as coed and the others and remain separated for those who don’t want to live in a coed dorm. Having coed dorms would give students an easier chance to meet people besides just girls or jut boys.