Residential Life announced a proposal to require all students to check in when visiting a dorm, regardless of gender, at the Lindenwood Student Government meeting Monday.  

Assistant director of Residential Life John Vanderpool said that if confirmed, the new policy would ideally start at the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester. 

“Currently, if you are of the same gender as the hall you are visiting, you are not being checked in. This would change that,” he said. “It would make sure that anyone that is not from that hall is being checked in as they come into our residence halls.”

Residential Life is currently seeking student feedback on the proposal, which is intended to increase security and improve emergency personnel’s knowledge of who is in the dorms, he said.  

As the policy starts out, community advisors may even ask some students to show ID when entering their own residence hall.   

“They don’t know every single student who lives in that residence hall, […] so it is going to have to be a thing where they’re going to have to ask if they don’t know,” Vanderpool said. “The student may be like ‘dude, I live here,’ but at the same time it’s all about security.”

Currently, area co-ordinators have to pre-approve all non-Lindenwood guests except immediate family members.  Another proposed change is to require immediate family members to register also.  

The changes would not affect off-campus housing, Vanderpool said. 

Vanderpool took questions from students at the LSG meeting.  Some sympathized with the reasoning for the proposal, but the audience raised a number of objections. 

Jordyn Lockhart, an LSG senator-at-large, said that as a commuter she would not be allowed to study in any residence hall outside of visitation hours.  

Most dorms on campus have visitation noon to midnight Monday through Thursday and noon Friday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday. The exceptions are the two co-ed dorms, which have 24/7 visitation.  

Vanderpool said the Residential Hall Association is working on a proposal for 24/7 visitation for upperclassmen halls to limit this problem.  

Residential Life wants to send out final information on any changes before winter break, he said.