Dorms enforce strict policies for Little 500 weekend

The Residence Halls Association will enforce its residence hall guest policy more strictly this weekend, said Robert Weith, director for residential operations.

The policy requires guests to be registered by Wednesday to stay in any of the residence halls over night and to be escorted at all times by the resident hosting them.

“I believe we make a larger issue out of Little 500 weekend, and we would do the same thing if we had a big football or a big basketball weekend or a big other kind of weekend where there was a potential for more safety problems in our residence halls,” he said.

The guest registration form went online between the fall and spring semesters of this year, Weith said.

“We’ve had residence hall guest policy for decades,” he said. “This is the first year that it has been an online registration policy, and we put it online to make it easier for our residents because they do so much stuff online now as opposed to having them fill out cards or lists. This is the first big event since we’ve gone online.”

Weith said he anticipates a large number of residents registering their guests online.

“If people are having guests, I hope that the convenience causes them to register, but we’ve had pretty good success in the past with the Little 500 weekend when folks were doing the paper copy, too,” he said.

All guests must be approved by the roommate and by suitemates in dorms with suites, Weith said.

“The guest ends up with a pass,” he said. “The roommate of the person hosting the guest also has to approve of the guest. That probably is a hitch for some people because they haven’t talked to their roommate about having someone over. If the roommate doesn’t approve of the guest, then it isn’t approved.”

The guest has to carry around the guest pass all weekend. Guests are only allowed to stay for a maximum of three nights, and each roommate is only allowed two guests, Weith said.

Floor lounges, in addition to computer areas, will be locked during Little 500 weekend. However, if a student needs to use a floor lounge to study for finals, then the resident can make arrangements with his or her resident assistant, Weith said.

“These places tend to be more at risk,” he said. “The reason we do floor lounges is because we know historically that a bunch of folks, not necessarily residents, will end up coming in intoxicated and crash there.”

All RAs will be on duty during Little 500 weekend, Weith said.

“There may be a couple exceptions when someone may have an emergency at home or something like that, but we tell our staff even before the time they are hired as we go over the obligations of being an RA that there are a few times and Little 500 is one of them when it is an all call. We need to have all of our staff available. Generally, there will be more rounds and generally, there will be more RAs doing rounds,” he said.

Weith said the main goal is safety. 

“The objectives are to keep our residence centers and our residences safe and accountable, and since we’ve gone online, it makes it easier to do something we have been doing for decades in terms of guest registration,” he said.

Read Center resident David-Aaron Roth said the policy is important.

“I think it is a very good thing because the purpose is to protect the students of the residence halls,” he said. “While it seems a little overdramatic, it is truly in the best interest of everyone who lives here.”