College is the time students are expected to gain independence and demonstrate responsibility. Is Cabrini allowing us to do so?
Respectfully and honestly, many students would answer this question negatively. Why are more students than past years transferring? Why is there a population on the weekend of what I can count on one hand? Why is Cabrini allowing so many students to leave and not do anything about it?
The simple yet controversial answer to these questions is the current visitation and curfew policy. Yes, Cabrini is a Catholic college. However, does that give them the excuse to treat us as adolescents?
According to the law, we are considered adults at the age of 18, suggesting that we are at a mature age to essentially make our own choices. As our current visitation policy stands, we have a “curfew” of 12 o’clock Monday through Thursday and a whopping two o’clock on Friday through Sunday. We could not imagine being upperclassmen having only two hours longer on the underclassman.
Yes, we all know this ludicrous visitation policy at Cabrini and how we are treated like children. Hello Public Safety! We do not need you to hold our hands and make sure sex will not go on! Okay, we did not graduate high school to move on to a more strict and overbearing environment. Do you want to make life boring and unsociable? Seems like it.
Do not take us the wrong way, we believe security is a priority, but they are strictly there for our safety not to be our parents or babysitters.
Fellow Cabrini students should not have to sign in to other Cabrini residences. Although this is a Catholic college, it is a college and authorities must realize we are losing and pushing away students from enjoying their time spent at this beautiful institution.
All the curfews and rules are seriously doing nothing for this college but bring it down. We are adults who work very hard at school and deserve the freedom of having friends over! Continuing the path of Public Safety and other officials trying to replace the parent role, Cabrini will be in for a real shock for transfers next year.
Having been students who have had to follow this absurd policy, we feel very annoyed and decided to take action and create a solution. Personally, we do not have curfews at home and should not have a curfew in a place that should represent our step to independence.
We have a well-thought-out solution and our new idea is to encourage the “guest card” policy. The guest card would be given out by resident assistants (RAs) at the beginning of the year; students would be limited two guests per person for a maximum of three nights per visit. The safety aspect of this policy will stay in effect; when having a guest, the guard on duty must take some sort of identification from the guest and the resident’s guest card to acknowledge when they have a guest and who it is.
We believe that we should be allowed to have a guest of the same or opposite sex without a hassle. Cabrini stresses the safety and accompaniment of a guest at all times. But if a guest is not of the same gender we are FORCED to leave them with someone they do not know and quite frankly might not be comfortable with. This essentially makes another student responsible for a stranger and vice versa.
Please understand we are not promoting sexual activity or alcohol. We are simply looking out for the sake of our college and our peers. There is no reason for this college to commit itself to old fashioned ways. If so, we think this college will lose good potential.
If you visit theloquitur.com you will notice the recent poll of why most students leave Cabrini College. The majority, 58 percent are because of the current visitation policy. This is ridiculous and should be unacceptable in a college atmosphere.
These are strict and overprotective policies and that is the reason we stand confidently and strongly against them. These rules lead to the lack of students on weekends, the high number of those who transfer and who are pushed to live off campus to have a life.
In reality, the policy is backfiring on Cabrini’s goal of having a safe environment because students are taking unsafe measures to work their way around the system.
We have to do something because we are going to keep losing good students and friends. College should be a place to enjoy and be able to better ourselves, why are we not allowed this right? Why are we being babysat?
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