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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1992)
24-hour residence hall visitation f successful, housing director says By Nicole Sheets Staff Reporter After a successful first semester of 24-hour visitation in residence halls, UNL police arc interviewing for full time security guards, an official said. Doug Zatcchka, director of UNL Housing, said the full-time security guards would begin working in the residence halls next semester. The guards are part of several changes in visitation hours on the floors that now offer 24-hour visita tion. From midnight to 6:30 a.m., stu dents living in the halls must present their student IDs to the security guard, who then scans it on a computer be fore allowing them to enter. The com puter stores the times of the entries in a file. That information can be re trieved on request and helps security ofliccrs investigate any problems in the halls. Students not living in the halls can enter only if they are escorted by a hall resident,and any ovcmightgucst must be signed in prior to staying. “This new security system is a lot more effective and efficient,” Zatcchka said. Guests of the opposite sex may slay for 24 hours if they are studying or visiting, but they can’t sleep in the hall. If a guest of the opposite sex is found sleeping in a room with a resi dent, judicial action will be taken against the resident, Zatcchka said. Students have handled the free -44 This new security system is a lot more effective and efficient. Zatechka director of UNL Housing -ff - dom afforded by new 24-hour visita tion in the residence halls responsi bly, he said. He declined to comment on whether any judicial action had been taken against residents for viola tions of visitation rules. “The students seem to really enjoy it so far,” he said. “Everything seems to be going well and I hope it will continue to do so.” The University of Ncbraska-Lin coln was one of the last Midwestern universities to offer 24-hour visita tion to its students, Zatechka said. Beginning this fall, students living in the residence halls were given the option of living on an 8-, 14-, or 24 hour visitation floor. Previously, Sellcck Quadrangle and Huskcr Hall were the only residence halls to offer the 24-hour visitation option. All halls now offer all three options. For the past few semesters, stu dents living in the residence halls filled out surveys on which visitation option they preferred. On each sur vey, an overwhelming number of stu dents indicated that they preferred the 24-hour option. / “We wanted to really make sure this was what the students wanted,” said Matt Hammons, president of RHA. “This is a major change and we wanted to make sure we had strong support.” J Now, the lower floors have the 24 hour option, suchas doors one through 1 seven in bigger halls and floors one | and two in smaller halls. Ncihardt Residence Hall offers the 24-hour option on all floors. Zatechka said he did not expect all floors to change to 24-hour visitation in the near future. He said he had received no com- j plaints about the 24-hour policy and - students seemed to enjoy the extra visitation hours. Kerri Brasfield, a sophomore and ■ second-year resident of Pound Resi dence Hall, lives on a 24-hour visita tion floor. She said she liked the con venience it provided. “If you have guys in your room ■ studying at night, you don’t have to ta stop studying at 2 a.m. like we had to J last year,” Brasfield said. “Also, my fl dad and brother can come to sec me H anytime and don’t have to wait until ■ 12 p.m.” Matt Vrzal, a freshman who lives in Abel Residence Hall, said he couldn’t imagine not having the 24 hour visitation hours. “It’s nice not having to worry about 1 people hassling you about having | people in your room whenever you want,” Vrzal said. Student begins eating disorder support group By Andrea Kaser Staff Reporter When Scjal Patel tried to find help last year for a friend with bulimia, she found that the UNL campus lacked support for women with eating disorders. Despite the statistic that one of every five college women has a eating disorder, Patel, a senior economics major, said all she found for her friend was one-to-one counseling at the University Health Center. The campus needed more than that, she said. The formal process of making an appointment can be intimidating to women who think they might have an eating disorder, but aren’t ready to admit it. So when Patel met with Judith Kriss, direc tor of the Women’s Center, her search became a personal crusade. Kriss told Patel to research the need for a support group for students with eating disorders on campus. Patel’s research wound up being a semester-long project. She advertised in the Daily Nebraskan and put up posters asking interested persons for their input. She found that women on campus who had struggled with anorexia or bulimia wanted to talk with their peers rather than an authority figure. She also found that off-campus pro grams for eating disorders, such as that of Lincoln General Hospital, were inconvenient for them because of the fees and location. Patel and the Women’s Center responded to the women’s ideas and formed a campus sup port group. The group will have its first meeting in January. Lincoln General and the University Health Center recently gave approval to the group. The group’s goal is support, not treatment, said Peg Miller, coordinator of counseling ser vices at the Women’s Center. Miller, the pro fessional counselor and co-leader of the group, will refer students who need more than support to the program at Lincoln General. In response to Patel’s efforts, the health center stepped up its services and hired a coun selor to concentrate on the area ol eating disor ders, she said. Patel’s extensive research also led her to a three-credit-hour internship with the center. Because Patel will graduate this May, she said she could not commit the lime necessary to help lead the group next semester, but the student internship she originated will continue I to be offered. 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