In my three years at Harding I have often heard from my peers the phrase: “I still feel like I’m being treated like a child even though I’m in college.” I think that many in the student body feel restricted because of the university’s policies and rules.
For many, the main frustration is focused toward the housing policies. Students complain living in the dorms constricts their freedom, and they were allowed more privileges living at home while still a teenager. They feel like rules such as curfew, health and safety and signing-out create an overbearing and distrustful atmosphere. These students bide their time living in residence halls waiting until senior year when they can move off campus and live like an adult, but that process is harder than you might think.
For students to be eligible to move off campus they must meet certain requirements such as being 22 years old or a ninth semester student. Only a small amount of students meet these requirements within the traditional four-year time span, therefore some students graduate having only lived in residence halls for their entire college career. Many students have expressed disgruntled attitudes toward the strict rules, and are hoping that there will be a change in the near future. Their main issue is that because they are not allowed to move off campus, they cannot learn valuable life lessons needed for after school. These students believe that if they could move off campus they could gain experiences that will better prepare them for life after college.
Something that most students on campus are unaware of is that residence halls cost a certain amount to maintain and operate, and that cost is distributed evenly among all of its residents. If more students were to move off campus it would increase the cost for everyone else. The more people that are living in the dorm, the better it is for everyone. Perhaps this is one of the financial reasons behind the off campus rules, however, there is another reason. Harding has an extremely active campus life, so active, in fact, that we view Harding as a community rather than just a school. The students, faculty and staff at Harding genuinely care about each other on a greater level than just a school. The atmosphere and attitude on the Harding campus is comparable to a small town and that is partially due to the fact that the majority of the Harding population lives on campus.
The one phrase I hear more often than any other is “It’s great to be at Harding,” and there is a reason for that. We go to school with each other. We eat with each other, live with each other, play with each other, cry with each other, pray with each other and laugh with each other. If anything happens on this campus, we go through it together.
Gaining experience living on your own resources is valid reasoning, but in my mind, developing relationships is even more valid. In eight years, long after I graduate, I am not going to care that I learned how to pay my water bills when I was a senior in college. I will care about the friendships and experiences I had in college. I hope that you understand that the strict off-campus rules are there only with your best interests in mind, but if you still feel like you need to go off campus, you are entitled to have a hearing before the housing appeals committee.
