Richard Nava
Contributing Writer
How many times have you looked at the clock and had to tell your friend it was time to leave? Have you ever been written up for having a member of the opposite sex over in your room past 1 a.m.? Did you ever think the set time was too early? Ever wonder the origins of these rules?
The male/female student visitation hours here at Pepperdine, though still limited, have changed extensively since 1937. The current visitation policy restricts men and women from being in the suites of the opposite sex between 1 a.m. and 10 a.m. A violation of these rules can result in the student being written up by the dorm’s RA.
This policy has led to a number of complaints from students.
“The rule is a set little too early,” said freshman Justin Bontrager. “I mean, things don’t get started on the weekends until after 11:00 p.m.”
It is the popular belief around campus that the majority of students would like to have the visitation hours pushed back or eliminated. Yet few are aware of the way the rule used to be.
The visitation rule has been in place since the university’s opening in 1937. However, the rule was not always as it is now. In 1984, for example, the hours for opposite sex visitation were set for 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In addition, to have a member of the opposite sex in the dorm suite, the resident of the dorm being visited had to acquire the signatures of two suite members and that of the RA as well. A petition with the three necessary signatures had to then be placed on the outside of the suite. It almost doesn’t seem worth it, right?
“At the time the door also had to be propped open if you wanted a visitor of the opposite sex,” said Jim Brock, director of Housing, “an urban legend was that it had to open the width of a Bible.”
Students seem to be in favor of unlimited visition, but actually it is the opposite. The rule was tested among residents in April 2000, with an extensive survey. The survey concluded that the students were opposed to having visitation hours available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the dorms. It found that the students were concerned with privacy and security.
“There is also an expectation that due our Christian heritage we are going to be different,” Brock said. “Residents should have the option of having a secure, private, healthy environment where they can excel academically.”
Other Christian affiliated universities have similar rules concerning visitation. Seattle Pacific University, founded by the Free Methodist Church in Seattle, Wash., for example, does not allow members of one sex on the floor of the opposite sex past midnight. Visitation hours are set for noon to 11 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays and noon to midnight Fridays and Saturdays.
There are also schools like Claremont McKenna College (CMC), located in Claremont, Calif., which has no rules regarding visitation hours.
“It’s nice to have my boyfriend stay over when he drives down to see me,” said Desiree Taylor, a freshman at CMC. “It would be really tough to always have to find someone else for him to stay with.”
Dana Smith, a Pepperdine junior and RA, said she felt the current visitation rules are effective in maintaining the Christian goals of the university.
“Having a boyfriend does make it difficult,” Smith said, “I can’t tell you how many times me and my boyfriend have had to run out of my room at 12:59 a.m. But there are plenty of other places to go on campus for couples who just want to hang out.”
The visitation rule will undoubtedly continue to be challenged by those who say it is outdated. So the next time you hear people complain about Pepperdine’s visitation hours, remind them how they used to be, and see if that person changes their tune.
2-24-2005