I would like to preface this petition by saying that I absolutely love Copiah-Lincoln Community College. In my last 2 semesters here, I had some of the best times of my life, and I know this is the consensus of not just me, but several of my classmates. This is, in fact, The Place to Be. However, after the advent of the Covid-19 virus, this school has seen some drastic changes in its policies and procedures as well as kept some rather archaic and outdated policies. Some of the policies of this college, both pre and post Covid, have detrimental effects on students' relationships with each other. I will outline this in this petition. 

Copiah-Lincoln Community College, or what I will address as Co-Lin from now on, is a top Community College in the state of Mississippi, the #1 state for Community Colleges. I feel as though this should be reflected through its housing policies as well as its academics. As far as my research has gone, Co-Lin does in fact have a handbook, with written policies regarding residence halls. One of these policies is a $400 fine and potential dismissal from housing for having a member of the opposite sex visit your dorm. This applies to any time of day. 24/7.

Hinds Community College, the largest Community College in the state of Mississippi, has a clear policy regarding visitation. It is written in Article VI of the section entitled, “STUDENT HOUSING AND RESIDENCE LIFE INFORMATION.” It states, “A male student visiting in any part of a residence hall for women or a female student visiting in any part of a residence hall for men without permission of a college official will have student conduct charges placed against them (including but not limited to a $200 fine per offense. All assigned occupants of a room must be in agreement before permission is given for visitors.” As well as “All visitors will be required to sign in at the lobby desk indicating the room number and person they are visiting. First and last name of the host and visitor is required. 
Checking-in and checking-out of any guest is the responsibility of the residence hall occupant acting as “host”. 
The host or hostess must meet the visitor at the lobby to escort him/her to the room and from the room back to the lobby at the end of visitation. Both the host and the visitor must leave a valid Hinds Community College student I.D. at the front desk. 

While Hinds does not allow overnight visitors of the opposite sex, they allow daytime, open hall visitation by any student at the college, regardless of sex. 
I feel as though the policies at Co-Lin are detrimental to students' relationships with students of the opposite sex as well as the image of our college. I feel as though we could do better as a college with these policies. I, as well as several students who sign this petition, feel there should be a daytime visitation policy that allows students of the opposite sex to visit during daytime hours. It is unfair to assume that students are, by default, breaking rules. This shows a lack of trust in your student body. In my extensive research online and in asking students at other community colleges, I have concluded that there is no other college that hands out a fine of $400 for a visitation violation. We have the strictest visitation policy in the State. One of the only other colleges in Mississippi that restricts dorm visitation is East Mississippi and it is only the male dorms that are restricted because of what they say is a “lack of supervision.”  Every other college either has a visitation policy or leaves it to the discretion of the dorm advisor. If this knowledge were widely known, I feel as though this would tarnish the reputation of this college and make students not want to attend.

An incident occurred in 2009 that I assume is used as a reason for the dorm policies restricting members of the opposite sex. The incident in question, I believe, is an incident that occurred on October 6th, 2009, in which a young woman accused 4 men of sexual assault. However, none of these men were found guilty because of security camera footage provided by the college and a rape kit test provided by Campus Police. This is not an extraordinarily compelling argument because the incident occurred at night, after reasonable visitation hours, and alcohol was involved. If our Campus Police and resident assistants are capable, I believe they can stop incidents like this by limiting access to dorms at night and alcohol possession, since we are a dry campus. Also, the school emailed all students and staff regarding the incident as “isolated.”

I am making this to make it widely known to the public. This is hurting the enrollment of Co-Lin. Students do not want to go to a college that has policies like this. It is a make or break thing for campus life. Hinds is a great model for open dorm visitation. Every University in Mississippi allows it, so I feel as though if we were to try and retain students and encourage students to go here, the least we could do is take action to relax some of the older fashioned and unappealing measures. I feel like a good start would be to allow student visitation of the opposite sex.

The academics at Co-Lin are great, we have some of the best instructors out there. However, our resident life is severely lacking. That is one of the most relevant and substantial claims against Co-Lin and it is easily fixable. Simply put, there is nothing to do. Every non-religious communal area on campus, minus the cafeteria, which is severely limited in hours, is closed. 
Thank you for your consideration.