[PhoenixAzul]

OC is slowly relaxing its dorm rules. We went from very strict male only/ female only dorms to 1 mixed dorm (male wing/female wing) to 2 mixed dorms (male floor/female floor) to 3 mixed dorms (male floor/female floor). Then they added the Commons Apartments, where it was men and women living side by side, but not mixed within apartments. The newest (and desperately needed!) dorm will be 2 person suites sharing bathrooms with people next door. Essentially, a quad dorm, divided in 2 by a bathroom. But it will be men/women in the same hall, an OC first.

But visitation hours are still till midnight on weekdays during regular term, and till 2 on weekends. During finals, visitation hours are curtailed till 10 and 12 respectively. Even if it is a male who lives in the same building. Visitation hours in the lobby are 24 hours, but there is to be no sleeping in the lobby. All visitors must be escorted, whether on a floor of the same sex or not.

In our fraternity/sorority houses, the house manager makes and sets the rules, or they are set through by-laws. OC as well as Panhel and TD guidelines dictate dry housing for our girls. As far as opposite sex guidelines...they're pretty relaxed. Several sisters have had male family members stay on the sleeper sofa during their college visits. It's generally a "ask the house manager and let all house members know" type of situation.

On the visitation hours thing...I can see where OC is coming from. The year before I came to OC, a guy broke into our dorm and watched a girl in the shower. There've been peeping incidents on campus every year I've been there. There was also an attempted sexual assault in one of the dorms last year (by someone who was not an OC student). OC is even in a VERY quiet suburb, and these things still happen. It sucks that we couldn't even go down to the boys floor to ask questions on assignments, but that's how it worked.