By Katie O’Connell
After nearly a year of waiting, the Trevecca apartment open hours are almost finalized.
Apartment dwellers continue to live under a temporary policy that offers 29 open apartment hours where students can hangout with the opposite sex.
The proposed policy worked its way through several councils and committees and the trial was approved at the beginning of this school year.
Student government association pressed for a new policy because they said it was what the majority of students wanted.
The trial policy, introduced in October, features a bi-weekly rotation of Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. one week, then Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. the next week, and Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to midnight every week regardless of the rotation.
Before the trial was initiated, junior and senior housing open hours were Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Sundays from 8 p.m. to midnight, 11 hours per week less than the current trial, which allows for 29 hours per week. Residents also received one extra guest pass per month to be used with RA notification on a day when open apartments were not in session. These were abolished with the new policy.
The process is taking time because administration wants to make the best decision for the school.
“We want to make a good decision, which is why it’s taking so long, because it’s probably going to last for a while,” Heather Bryant, residential director of women’s apartments, said.
However, Steve Harris, dean of student development, said the policy is finalized for him. It is just up to SGA if they want to change the Sunday hours.
While it may take another few weeks to work out a final policy, they hope to get it done soon.
“They want to hash this out very quickly,” said Riley Wampler, associated student body president. “It’s frustrating for us to see it take time.”
Even with the newer, longer hours, Trevecca is still one of the more conservative Nazarene schools when it comes to open apartment policies. Only Eastern Nazarene College, with 24 hours per weeks, has fewer.
One reason that Trevecca’s hours are so conservation, said Bryant, is because Trevecca RAs are constantly making rounds and checking rooms. RAs have to make five rounds a night, checking all apartments with a guest pass out as well as performing one random room check per breezeway, said Hood. Those rounds, as well as the rule requiring three people to be in the apartment at all times when having a member of the opposite sex over, elicited complaints on the pre- and post- trial surveys.
A survey was sent to all apartment residents before the trial began in Oct. and at the end of last semester.
According to the survey, students said they wanted to see a change before the trial began.
“Pre-survey, most people indicated they weren’t as satisfied with the way things were and would like to see it changed,” said Ronda Lilienthal, associate dean of students for residential life.
According to the second survey, students said, they liked the new hours.
Although there were concerns about inconsiderate roommates talking advantage of more hours to the detriment of their other roommates, 86.9 percent were satisfied with how their roommates behaved in that regard.
However, it is possible some changes will still be made. Redford resident assistant Charly Hood and Bryant both said that the first set of Sunday hours, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., were used infrequently and that the need for making rounds and performing room checks left RAs with no time for schoolwork on Sunday.
In the general SGA meeting on Jan. 16, the only discussion focused on the hours and RA workload. If major changes are made to the current policy, the permanent policy will likely be delayed while it passes through more discussions and trials.
