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.
In addition to working with the support
group, Patel said, the intern also will educate
students about eating disorders by giving pre
sentations in residence halls, sororities and
fraternities.
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