EDITORIAL: Be our guest policy

John Silber’s Guest Policy is not set in stone.

Though it seems Boston University students have been waiting forever, the administration is finally planning changes to the policy.

At Wednesday’s Student Union meeting, Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore revealed his fairly progressive proposal that provides students the appropriate amount of responsibility.

This plan allows residents of Student Village and brownstone apartments on Bay State Road and in South Campus to have visitors come and go at any time, as long as a resident accompanies these guests.

The juniors and seniors who live in these buildings should have this type of leniency because after several years at the university they are adults. And because most students living in the upperclassmen residences room with their friends, the chance of controversy over guests is less likely than the chance of controversy in a dormitory where students do not choose their roommates.

Most freshmen don’t usually select who they live with, and Elmore correctly proposed some guest limitations in underclassmen housing to limit conflicts. Residents of buildings such as Warren Towers, Danielsen Hall, Myles Standish Hall and West Campus can have overnight visitors, but still need to have a roommate’s written permission.

But under the new proposal, the roommate only has to provide consent the business day after the overnight stay. And residents wanting to entertain guests for the night simply need to submit the pass to the security guard before 2 a.m. — not one day prior to the Office of Residence Life. The proposal puts the kibosh on the ridiculous co-host rules as well.

Coinciding with giving residents more freedom, under the proposal, any student living in on-campus housing can swipe into every BU dormitory before 2 a.m. This is our university; we should have free rein of the facilities during appropriate hours.

But this proposal does not give all students proper access. Those who live off campus are considered guests. With Elmore’s policy, if off-campus students have a meal plan, they can swipe into residences with dining rooms as long as the cafeteria is open. If they don’t have a meal plan, they must be signed in by a resident.

But this penalizes the many students who move into private buildings do so to avoid the burden of BU dining — they should not be considered outsiders just because they want to whip up their own food.

Anyone with a BU ID should be permitted into any building, because it proves affiliation with the university. Where someone chooses to live has no bearing on whether a student can be trusted.

Non-BU students should be monitored, though, and the proposal ensures this by mandating outside guests be signed in and leave identification at the security desk. BU is an urban campus, and crime is a real threat.

Because there are dangers in city life, students must not abuse the new fairly lax Guest Policy, if it passes. In residences like Student Village especially, in which anyone who lives there can bring in whoever they want, there could be temptations to help strangers get into the building.

Overall, Elmore’s proposal presents a lot of positive policies. It embraces that, as college students, we are adults and should be responsible for ourselves and our roommates. It encourages students to work things out between themselves, and this is a skill that will serve everyone well once they enter the “real world.”

But the proposal is not perfect. Labeling off-campus students as guests in BU facilities is a serious flaw and should be addressed. There are also other points in the proposal — such as clearly defining an overnight guest and what exactly is required of them — that need to be worked out.

Before anything goes to a vote, the policy must be fine-tuned, worked and re-worked. We’ve seen how long it takes to make adjustments, so any detail that is missed will probably not be fixed for quite some time once the proposal passes.

Elmore is wise to put the proposal on BU’s websites. Students should look at it and carefully critique it. This is our Guest Policy — we have every right to offer suggestions. Union meetings are open to the public so everyone can toss in their two cents.

With this proposal, the university is so close to having an acceptable Guest Policy that can finally be laid to rest. Let’s make it happen so we can all sleep a little easier.