Campus Police State and the revival of "parietal" ruled and curfews? How bad is it? (cost, state school)

[sheena12]

Recently, I have been told that rules on college campuses have tightened up quite a bit.

The rules to which I specifically refer are:

1. The revival of "parietals" - dormitory rules that regulate visitation of students of one gender into the rooms of students of the opposite sex.
I had heard about this from my parents. I thought that they had died sometime in the 1960 or early 70s

2. "Signing in and out at The Desk"
Some recent grads have told me that dormitories now require students
to sign in when they leave and sign out when return.
There is a front desk person, who calls the floor when there is a visitor,
especially one of the opposite sex,

3. Resident Advisers who act in an authoritarian manner. Including the
encouragement of "snitching", entering dorm rooms with out reason, and
the creation of a hierarchical environment in resident halls.

4. Student profiling in terms of appearance.

5. Paranoia with reference to substance use.

I KNOW ALREADY that many parents like this, and that most likely I am in the minority.
I disagree with the environment of fear and hostility that is created by such measures.
I fully understand why some people do not.

I had thought that only religious or ultra-conservative schools kept such practices.
The college that I attended (Clark University) did not practice "in loco parentis" i'e the university acting as a parent or guardian in the parents abentia. This position did not lead to social anarchy on campus, but instead, a relaxed atmosphere that we were a community of learners, were trusted and that we were thought of as scholars and adults.
Not children - or worse, inmates.

I enjoyed and flourished in such an atmosphere, and I want the same for my students.

Is this the prevalent attitude in most US institutions of higher learning?

Which schools are more likely to have and to strictly enforce such rules?
When I was in college, religious schools, for obvious reasons, and State Colleges, who were and are, closely aligned with the government.
I think that this is still the case.

I am not seeking to debate this issue, and I feel certain that I am in the minority in wanting a college or university that does not police students in this manner. I am really not looking for a debate.

Is this the case in general? Is it more or less prevalent?
What colleges do NOT have such rules?

Thanks.

[maf763]

Honestly, many of these 'rules' were in place when I was in college in the 80's but they were never enforced.

[golfgal]

When I was in college, back in the dark ages, we were allowed to have visitors in our rooms without checking in and out. People of the opposite sex could not be in the room overnight. I think it was after 10:00 on weeknights and after 1 am on weekends. This was a Catholic college. We never had to check in/check out with anyone though.

Our kids are in college or looking at colleges and none of the schools we have looked into have any of these strict rules. Most have key card access to the dorm itself but that is a safety measure and not an issue really. Since a few of the school they have looked into are Catholic colleges, they have the no opposite sex visitor overnight rule too. Again, not really an issue.

Heck, our son's school has co-ed FLOORS in his dorm. The rooms on either side of him were girls. They did have key card access to get into their dorm rooms though, even in the tiny town where the school is located.

I can only think of ONE school in our area that MIGHT have these kids of rules and even then I am not sure about that.

[UNC4Me]

Originally Posted by sheena12

Recently, I have been told that rules on college campuses have tightened up quite a bit.

The rules to which I specifically refer are:

1. The revival of "parietals" - dormitory rules that regulate visitation of students of one gender into the rooms of students of the opposite sex.
I had heard about this from my parents. I thought that they had died sometime in the 1960 or early 70s

2. "Signing in and out at The Desk"
Some recent grads have told me that dormitories now require students
to sign in when they leave and sign out when return.
There is a front desk person, who calls the floor when there is a visitor,
especially one of the opposite sex,

3. Resident Advisers who act in an authoritarian manner. Including the
encouragement of "snitching", entering dorm rooms with out reason, and
the creation of a hierarchical environment in resident halls.

4. Student profiling in terms of appearance.

5. Paranoia with reference to substance use.

I KNOW ALREADY that many parents like this, and that most likely I am in the minority.
I disagree with the environment of fear and hostility that is created by such measures.
I fully understand why some people do not.

I had thought that only religious or ultra-conservative schools kept such practices.
The college that I attended (Clark University) did not practice "in loco parentis" i'e the university acting as a parent or guardian in the parents abentia. This position did not lead to social anarchy on campus, but instead, a relaxed atmosphere that we were a community of learners, were trusted and that we were thought of as scholars and adults.
Not children - or worse, inmates.

I enjoyed and flourished in such an atmosphere, and I want the same for my students.

Is this the prevalent attitude in most US institutions of higher learning?

Which schools are more likely to have and to strictly enforce such rules?
When I was in college, religious schools, for obvious reasons, and State Colleges, who were and are, closely aligned with the government.
I think that this is still the case.

I am not seeking to debate this issue, and I feel certain that I am in the minority in wanting a college or university that does not police students in this manner. I am really not looking for a debate.

Is this the case in general? Is it more or less prevalent?
What colleges do NOT have such rules?

Thanks.

Whoever recently told you these things may be correct about whatever college they were speaking about, but they are not correct about the majority of colleges and universities.

There are voluntary living communities at most universities that MAY have rules that differ from the standard ones in the residence halls. These typically have to do with issues like quiet study hours and diversity of community than the draconian rules you list above.

And no, state (public) universities do not have these types of rules now a days any more than private universities. If you have a child considering colleges, please do some research on what's really happening instead of relying on what someone told you.

[sheena12]

I am doing that research now. I think that the social atmosphere at a college or university, is an underrated aspect of college selection. It goes without saying, that your or your student's choice must contain their intended major. Even better, some other majors that are of interest. (nothing is engraved in stone when you are a Freshman)
Geography and cost are considered by many, but if the social atmosphere of the college does not mesh with your student's personality and proclivities, she will not do well, and most likely this could lead to transferring - or at worst, dropping out of school all together.

I was told this recently by several people who graduated from three different institutions, all in the late 90s through mid 2000s. One was a Catholic affiliated school, but not one that I think of as being particularly religious or conservative. One was a state school, and one was a private college.

I know that my Alma Mater is and was on the liberal side. Perhaps not a Hampshire, Bard, Marlboro or Sarah Lawrence, but there was a lot of overlap in applications among these schools.

I want a college that will teach my son - not police or harass him. I always thought of college as "the Best Time of My Life" - not, as some do, high school.
High school was full of rules that I found arbitrary and demeaning.
I knew that I just had to get through high school, do well and then I could choose a place that was in harmony with my learning style, learning preference and philosophy.

I want my children to have this experience as well.
I don't want them to have to put up with room searches, a hostile police state atmosphere, or being treated as a child.

Safety measures do not bother me in the least. What does is when measures are put into effect in the guise of safety, when the real goal is social control and the enforcement of values with which our family does not agree.

Like Golfgal I too went to college in the dark ages. (Late 70s) Even then, we had a computerized entry code in order to gain entrance to the dorm.
We, in fact, want our kids to live on campus and to enjoy dormitory life.
I only moved off campus senior year - because I felt that I had out grown dorm life - not because I found it oppressive.

[toobusytoday]

I think it's more of CYA on the colleges part. Knowing who is in a building is important if there is a crime to find the bad guy but also if there is a fire or an emergency to make sure everyone is out. I think the opposite sex thing is to combat the roommate-having-sex while other roommate is still in the room - and not happy about it. In a perfect world, kids make roommate contracts, both sides stick to it and everyone is happy. What sometimes happen though is one student likes to party and the other one doesn't. Or one roommate wants to store his beer in the dorm frig. With inspections allowed, that's (supposedly) not going to happen.

With the rules in place the college has a leg to stand on when they need to make students behave. Colleges are having a tough time with binge drinking. If students aren't smart enough not to engage in those behaviors then it's up to the colleges to make sure they don't. You know that there are parents out there ready to sue a college because they didn't protect their child.

I can see where you are coming from Sheena, but I don't think it's really that rigid and it's certainly not the same at every college.

[GiantRutgersfan]

I lived on campus from 2005-2007. there was no one at a desk. As long as you had a card to open the door, that was it. RA's generally turned a blind eye to underage drinking and weed. Odd chance you caught a hard ass, you went to a 2 hour course on Saturday about it.

I highly doubt they are much stricter these days.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by GiantRutgersfan

I lived on campus from 2005-2007. there was no one at a desk. As long as you had a card to open the door, that was it. RA's generally turned a blind eye to underage drinking and weed. Odd chance you caught a hard ass, you went to a 2 hour course on Saturday about it.

I highly doubt they are much stricter these days.

May I ask where you attended?

[toobusytoday]

Hey Sheena, I'm guessing Rutgers!

Every college really is different about this stuff. Two of my kids three dorms were/are more like cozy huge houses then cement block dorms. For them there was no person at the entrance way but the only way to get in was to have a passkey or to have someone admit you.

[texdav]

Bascailly it a reaction to mopre violence on campuses which has lead to more demand for security.