New Visitations Policy Passes in Student Council
In a formal vote at last night’s Student Council (StuCo) meeting, the much-discussed new visitations proposal was voted in by select members, dorm representatives and other members of the council. The proposal passed by a surprisingly wide margin; however, the larger community has not rallied behind it.
The new policy would allow students to visit the room of any other student from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on school days and until check-in on weekends, regardless of gender, sexuality or circumstance. Visitors would sign in without faculty upon arrival and sign out upon departure; they would also be required to keep the door open whenever a student is visiting another’s room. Students who live in the same dorm would also leave their door open but would not be required to sign in and out. Student listeners and proctors would be permitted to close their door if they felt that leaving the door open would compromise their ability to assist their visitor in an intensely personal situation that required total privacy to discuss. If other students felt the need to close their doors for privacy, they would have to have their request granted at the discretion of a dorm faculty member. The proposal also contains a clause to ensure faculty and proctors foster a respectful environment surrounding visitations.
“We hope this will send a message of acceptance and openness to both current and future students.”
Currently, the Academy’s visitations policy is predicated on the assumptions that visitations are only required when a “boy” visits a “girl,” that they are romantic in nature and that students all identify within the gender binary. StuCo hoped to create a new policy that could be applied to students of all genders and sexualities and encourage healthy, more open relationships in which visitations are less frequently obtained for romantic purposes and more commonly for more general social purposes.
The new proposal may reduce the number of illegal visitations by making the system more lenient. It also may make students feel more at ease to leave a visitations session that makes them feel uncomfortable, because students would be entering and departing dorms more frequently. The policy reform is meant to improve the sexual climate at Exeter by diminishing the number of uncomfortable situations that can arise from secretive visits to other students’ rooms.
Many members of StuCo were pleased with the results of the vote. Senior Rebecca Ju, StuCo President, emphasized the progressive ideology that the proposal embraces. “I’m very excited that the policy passed,” she said. “Unlike our current policy, the proposal is a policy that can be applied to any and all students regardless of gender or sexuality. We hope this will send a message of acceptance and openness to both current and future students.”
Senior and Head of Policy Committee Tony Ryou was pleasantly surprised by the wide margin by which the proposal passed. “[Head of Policy Committee Henrietta Reily] and I were quite surprised to see that the proposed visitations policy passed and with such a large margin,” he said. “We are very excited that Student Council endorses this policy proposal, as it now acknowledges the students’ vision of a safe, healthy and nondiscriminatory campus.”
Ryou said that many students had expressed concerns over losing their right to privacy and the inconvenience of signing in and out if the new policy were to be enacted. “We are most happy to hear from these student representatives that they can forgo their privileges for the sake of equality,” he said.
Lower Jon Chen said that he opposed the proposal for just those reasons. “I think the idea of letting people visit whomever they want at any time is a good one, but it is too much of an inconvenience to have to ask for permission to close the door when I’m talking to my friends, especially when I am having a sudden and important conversation,” he said.
Postgraduate Mathias Valenta agreed with Chen and added that he supported upper and StuCo presidential candidate Matthew Robbins in part due to his stance on visitations. “Robbins has a great solution for solving both the human and the philosophical problems at hand.”
Robbins’ stance focuses heavily on the handling of illegal visitations, especially when students are “caught” because they feel uncomfortable and choose to leave. “Whenever we have moved towards equality we have gained rights. In this case we do not,” he said. “I think a better solution is a guarantee that when somebody leaves an illegal visitation because they feel the situation is uncomfortable, the case pertaining to sexual assault will be investigated and solved before the one pertaining to illegal Vs.”
Senior Sean Taylor also voiced his concerns about the proposal, including reduced privacy as a result of the sign-in sheet and the possibility of a negative impact on relationships within the dorm. “I don’t like the idea of having a sheet with a list of guests. It only allows for gossip and a further reduction of privacy,” he said. “I think what you’ll see as a result of this policy is more people staying in their own rooms instead of interacting with their friends. Overall, there might very well be a less-connected student body.”
On the other hand, prep and selectman Taylor Robertson was “extremely glad” that the policy passed. He was concerned, however, that despite being voted in by the students, it may take a while to pass a faculty vote.
In order for the policy to be enacted, it will have to pass that faculty vote by a simple majority. First, however, StuCo has to find a space on the faculty meeting calendar to formally present the proposal.
Senior and Recreation Committee Head Lucy Weiler said that it would be a “lofty goal” to get the new visitations policy into the faculty meetings’ agenda during this school year.
“I think the hope is to have the policy put in front of the faculty at large as soon as we have confidence in its capacity to pass,” she said.
Weiler said that StuCo’s policy and executive committees will continue to meet with faculty and deans to try and move the proposal forward.