Open visitation unanimously chosen

Beth Bliss ,News Editor

Open visitation was approved by 14 campus residence halls last week as 3,723 students exercised their right to choose.

Effective Wednesday, Aug. 27, all dorms will have 24 hour visitation privileges.

Students were asked to vote for one of three possible visitation options. Option A offered visitation from noon to midnight Sunday through Thursday and from noon to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Option B allowed visitation hours from noon to 2 a.m. Sunday through Saturday, and Option C proposed open visitation.

The voting options brought 95% of the on-campus population to residence hall lobbies, where 93% of residents favored Option C.

Option B received votes from 1.4% of residents and Option A was chosen by 0.5%. Approximately 5% of dormitory residents did not vote.

Assistant Director of Residence Life Scott Ranger described voter turnout as amazing. "We're all a little taken back by the amount of (voter) support," he said. "People took investment that (visitation) would affect them."

Though new to some students, voting to decide residence hall visitation policies has been used in the past, said Vice Chancellor for Student Development Gregory Blimling.

Blimling said students voted annually on visitation up until 2 years ago, when visitation was decided for each residence hall based on historical precedence within each dorm. Dorms that traditionally chose open visitation through voting were assigned such.

Lovill, Frank, and Belk Halls were the only dorms with restricted visitor access last year, according to Blimling.

The decision to ask students to vote on visitation came from a recommendation made by the chancellor's task force on student life. Blimling said options offered to students in this year's vote were formulated from options presented in previous years.

However, options offered to students could change before next year's vote, Blimling said. "We might add a fourth option next year," he said. "We're open to suggestion."

Blimling said future options could be formed based on input from students, describing Appalachian's Campus Resident Student Association (CRSA).

The chancellor's task force also recommended that each vote be passed by a certain percentage of residents of each hall. "(We) wanted to see a fair representation of all people in the building, since visitation affects everyone," Blimling said.

When asked if he was surprised by the results of the vote, Blimling said, "Surprised that students voted for the maximum amount of freedom within the residence halls? Not really."

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