This past week it was announced the Laurentian Pact was moving into Phase two. Dean of Student Life Hagi Bradley sent an email with the new visitation rules that were decided on by the Student Life Team, Director of Health Services Erin Casey, and the Campus Safety Monitoring Team.

            Phase Two of the pact allows students to visit other dorms in their building, but continues face covering regulations. There is still a limit on indoor gatherings of more than ten students without official university approval.

            This phase only extends to dorm buildings and senior townhouses. Freshman dorm buildings were also paired up so each building’s residents can move around their own hall, as well as one other. Theme and Greek Houses “will remain without cross residence visitation until when we begin Phase Three”, according to Bradley’s email. 

            Students in theme houses had mixed reactions to Phase Two of the pact. Chloe McConnell ’21 and Madeline Sheen ’21, theme coordinators of the Arts Annex, were excited for those who were now allowed to move around their dorms. However, they also expressed some nerves about the rule change. “We’re a bit worried about increased cases with this cross-visitation, but we’re hopeful.”

            McConnell and Sheen felt Phase Two is fair. “This is a phase-based reopening. Themes will be included in the next phase,” they said. “Theme communities and Greek life account for a large part of the student body. To allow us all cross visitation at once would be risky.”

Emily Grudzien ’21, a resident of The Dub, was not as happy at the exclusion of theme and Greek house residences from the new visitation rules. “I don’t think that allowing for cross-visitation for all other residences other than themes and Greeks is fair to those communities,” she said. “I think we as a collective have done our best to abide by the Laurentian Pact and excluding Themes and Greeks from this new freedom feels like punishment for a violation that we didn’t commit.”

In response to Phase Two, Grudzien started a Change.org petition asking for theme and Greek houses to be included in the cross-visitation rules. As of Wednesday, September 30, there are 118 signatures. 

Grudzien says she started the petition because she heard a lot of other students complaining about being left out of the new rules. “[Student Life] even encouraged us in their email to continue finding ‘creative ways’ to hang out outside, which stung a bit considering most of the rest of the student body could have a freedom we couldn’t,” she said. “I wanted to show the SLU administration that we were frustrated with this decision and wanted to be involved in future discourse around the subject.”

Bradley has already responded to the petition, according to Grudzien. “He supports us as students and is going to bring the petition to the attention of the people that decided themes and Greeks were to not be included in Phase Two,” she said. Grudzien hopes the petition encourages the university to reevaluate not including theme and Greek houses in cross-visitation in Phase Two. 

Mya Burghardt ’22, a Community Assistant in Reiff, was surprised by the grouping of the freshman dorms in Phase Two. “I knew they were working on opening wings within buildings, but there was nothing about freshmen cross-building visitation mentioned to the Community Assistants. It just goes to show the lack of transparency that the Administration has with the CA’s,” she said. 

Burghardt also feels the rules are unfair. “There aren’t any upperclassmen dorm pairings happening, so why do freshmen get special treatment when they have been doing the worst at following the Laurentian Pact?” 

She is also concerned about managing the safety of students with the new rules and said some of her residences have expressed worries as well. “There should be a better way to monitor who is coming in and out of the dorms as well as who is taking off their masks around who,” Burghardt said. “Once students shut the doors to their room, there is no way for me to tell if they are still following Laurentian Pact or if they are putting everyone in danger.”

Kaleigh McKillip ’22 is a member of Chi Omega but lives in a dorm on campus. “Life isn’t about fairness but it’s just not fair,” she said of Phase Two. “I want to be able to go see my friends, I want to be able to go over to Chi O.”

She does feel the rules are safe but wants to be able to go see friends living in houses. “Being in a sorority, it’s been extremely difficult to do sisterhood events and things like that without being able to go over and see my sisters,” McKillip stated.

Harleigh Gastman ’24 is hopeful to make new friends during Phase Two. “It’s definitely been hard meeting people because we weren’t able to go in other people dorms for the first month of school of school,” she said. However, she is still nervous. “I hope everyone still respects the rules because I am a little worried that now that they are loosening up, people are going to take advantage of that.”