Dorms May Unlock at 6 a.m. Instead of 5 a.m.

The deans office and dorm heads plan to continue discussing the possibility of changing the time students may leave their dorm from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. This conversation is a continuation of a similar one last year among dorm heads, when dorm heads suggested and recommended the change. According to Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove, it is possible that a recommendation will be brought to the faculty to vote to change the time.

“Student safety is the primary reason we would consider making this change,” Cosgrove said.

This summer, Cosgrove asked the Head of Archives and Special Collections of the Academy Library Peter Nelson to research if there had been any discussion over the 5 a.m. rule in the past. Nelson found that in April 1959, there was a recommendation from the Executive Committee to clarify the hour in the morning when students could leave their dormitories.

The amended motion was carried as follows: “When a boy has checked in at his dormitory for the night, he is not to leave the building before 5 a.m., except with permission of his faculty adviser.”

Since 1959, the time has not changed. However, since female students now attend the Academy, the original wording has changed, and there was an addition of a seven a.m. visitor rule, so that no non-dorm members would be in the dormitories before that time.

The current E-Book rule regarding this issue is the sixth and final point on “Hours of Reporting” and reads: “Students must not leave the dormitory before 5 a.m. and, in order to maintain the dorm’s security, must never prop open locked dormitory doors. Visitors are not permitted before 7 a.m., except by arrangement with the resident faculty or a dean.”

Dorm head of Bancroft Hall, Director of Studies and Englsih instructor Brooks Moriarty expressed that he would not be surprised if the earliest departure time is changed to six a.m. because nothing is open on campus before that time, and therefore does not need to be accessed by students.

“[I]t sounds sensible to me,” he said. “And it makes sense that the hour of the fitness center opening would align with the hour when students would be permitted to leave the dorm.”

Dorm resident in Webster Hall and history instructor Alexa Caldwell agreed with Moriarty and added that “improving safety for the students is always a priority.”

“It seems sensible to make the time that buildings open correspond to the time students can leave the dorm,” she said.

When asked about the purpose of the 7 a.m. rule and its relationship to the 5 a.m. rule, Cosgrove said that the times are consistent “with the times when the Phelps Student Center and the Dining Halls—with the exception of weekends—open.”

“Student safety is the primary reason we would consider making this change.”

However, several students and even proctors were unaware of the 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. E-Book rule. Seniors and Amen proctors Hillary Aristotle and Antigone Clark both were surprised to hear about it. They both felt this and the potential change are an attempt to dampen what they described as the “hook-up” culture at Exeter.

Students have been known to take advantage of the 5 a.m. permitted exit hour to visit others for sexual or romantic purposes. “I think there needs to be a more direct way of addressing the problem than just changing the hours,” Aristotle said. Clark agreed. “I mean, people are still going to have sex,” she said.

Senior and Bancroft proctor Zoe Marshall admitted that students are confused about why this change could happen.

“There will always be students who break the Vs policy [regardless of a time change],” she said. “It’s a rule universally seen as okay to break, at least compared to every other rule.”

Senior and proctor in Wentworth Liam Oakley also believed the administration is trying to decrease the amount of sexual activity happening on campus.

“Five o’clock is traditionally the time when couples leave their dorms in order to hook-up,” he said. “By moving this to six they think it will change, but all it does is confine the same amount of activity to [fewer] hours in the day.”

Fellow Wentworth proctor and senior Graham Rutledge agreed with Oakley. Rutledge thought that students who get illegal visitations early in the morning are already breaking a rule and “adding another rule will not serve as a deterrent.” He also worried that this could affect athletes, such as wrestlers who lift in the morning.

Some students were also concerned that this would delay their athletic practice because they leave their dorm around 5:45 a.m. in order to arrive at the gym right as it opens.

Upper Jon Chen was very upset to hear of the potential change because it would push back his workout routine half an hour.

Lower Liz Williams empathized with Chen. “Personally, that would impede on my ability to practice,” she said. Williams continued to explain that her morning swim practices are already cut short when she has 8 a.m. classes. “I like to get in the pool right at six.”

Lower Ashley Lin agreed that this would push back her swim time as well since she leaves her dorm 10 minutes before the pool is open.

Williams added that she does not think the hour will make a difference when it comes to students breaking rules. “There isn’t anything I can imagine you can get away with at five that you can’t do at six,” she said.

Dunbar proctor and senior Isabella Thilmany also thought this time change would do little to stop any inappropriate activity that happened at 5 a.m., saying “people can just go at six instead.” She added that it could also be “an inconvenience for people who might want to go on an early morning run or Dunkin Donuts run.”

Upper and proctor Lara Galligani said she understood why the administration is considering this change. She believed they want to limit the amount of time students break the visitations policy which then could minimize the possibility of sexual assault. 

“There is no faculty [member] available to intervene if there was to be a situation where a student wanted to leave an illegal Vs situation,” she said.

But while she understood the motivation of the faculty to instigate a cultural shift, Galligani was not optimistic. “I don’t think this will do anything,” she said.

Clark believed the sexual climate at Exeter is dually over-exaggerated and under-exaggerated by various parties on campus. “Students think a lot more people are having sex than they really are, but also I think there are more people having sex than the Academy acknowledges.”