By Bresha Pierce
Reporter

Student Senate unanimously passed a bill at Thursday’s meeting that recommended visitation hours for all residence halls across campus be the same.

The bill was cleared through the Senate’s Campus Improvements and Affairs committee, which handles issues related to recycling, parking sustainability, safety and buildings.

According to the bill, halls like Martin, Collins, South and North Russell and Penland all have visitation hours are from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. to midnight on weekends. Halls like Brooks, Brooks Flats, North and East Village, however, have visitation hours from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day.

“East and North Village tend to have more upperclassmen, and thats why the hours are longer,” said Sulfur Springs junior Ayana Taylor, a North Village community leader.

Woodinville, Wash., senior Gannon McCahill said one of the justifications for having different hours among the halls was different demographics. McCahill said the administration gave longer curfews to halls that had 50 percent or more upperclassmen.

“In several of the residence halls like Dawson and Allen, that demographic no longer holds, so the differences in residence halls are no longer necessary,” McCahill said.

Although some residence halls have students with a variety of classifications, the committee wants a campus-wide agreement to have every residency on the same page.

“Our main goal is to get the administration on board with this bill,” said Frisco sophomore James Porter, a member of the Campus Improvements and Affairs committee. Porter co-authored the bill with Woodinville, Wash., senior Gannon McCahill and Port Barre, La., sophomore Lindsey Bacque.

With the variety of visitation hours in residence halls throughout campus, incoming freshman are more likely to choose a residence hall that would allow them to have visitors stay later says Taylor.

“Right now students choose North or East Village over other residence halls because of the visitation hours,” Porter said. “Getting static visitation hours gives our other more old fashioned and traditional residence halls the same attention.”

“I think this will be a good thing to implement,” said Taylor. “It will clear up confusion about violations regarding visitation hours. It will be more beneficial and more comfortable for every residency to be the same.”

The committee isn’t looking for a specific time frame or later hours just the administrations agreement on the bill.

“It will happen. It’s just a matter of time,” said Porter. “We are just working to speed up the process.”