Kylie McGovern, Editor

On Nov. 2 La Salle University’s department of Housing and Residence Life announced an amended visiting policy via email. The email noted that, in general, students have observed compliance with the public health expectations outlined by the University in La Salle’s health and safety guidelines. 

Beginning Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 5 p.m., La Salle University’s visitation policy will be revised to allow all residential students to accept enrolled non-residential or commuter students as guests at their residences. All guests must continue to be registered online through the established guest registration process. This new policy will be reviewed on an ongoing basis by La Salle’s COVID-19 Response Team, who will be monitoring the number of campus COVID-19 cases, student conduct cases and the impact of contact tracing. 

Each residence hall must abide by different numbers of guests. Including the host or hosts, up to four students can be in a residence hall room, up to six students can be in an apartment and up to 10 students can visit any given townhouse at a time. In addition, face masks are required in residence hall rooms any time guests are visiting. While visiting, the guest must be escorted by their host at all times.

Although the acceptance of commuter guests opens visiting to a new group of people, if students want to host family members or other visitors who are unaffiliated with La Salle University, they may visit campus outside of residential communities and in publicly accessible, open-air spaces.  

Sophomore and commuter Danielle O’Brien says she is ​​“very excited about the new changes concerning the guest policy as a commuter. For a time it felt unfair that commuters — a large percent of La Salle’s student population — were being excluded from visiting dorms. I, like many other computers, have trouble finding things to do in between classes, and visiting friends’ dorms would be a perfect way to accommodate this. 

“Broadening the guest policy to commuter students such as myself is a great opportunity to make connections and friends that you wouldn’t otherwise, and I’m very excited to plan new activities with friends who are dorming and their dorm mates. Not to mention broadening the guest policy to commuters can entice commuters to rethink on-campus housing as it was made clear to me that those dorming at La Salle clearly have a community of their own within their building.”