<p>I just dropped my 17 year old off for a summer program at an Ivy where she is staying in a large, usually all girls dorm for 5 weeks. In the summer this dorm is used for all different summer programs, people moving in and out every week and all ages and sexes. The doors are often wedged open with rocks and students let anybody in without asking for ID . On her floor every combination of sexes as well and ages (many adult programs) I was really concerned that the only bathrooms are large and unlockable. When she takes a shower, anybody could just walk in. Because it is normally a girls dorm there is no label except a paper stick- on one that fell off twice during the day while we were there. Does any body else think this is inappropriate and asking for trouble?</p>
<p>“In the summer this dorm is used for all different summer programs, people moving in and out every week and all ages and sexes.”
That’s pretty typical for summer programs, which are much more nomadic than the regular student population. Each summer program should have a coordinator whose reponsible for residential behavior. I’d rather see younger students set apart from older ones. In the general college population, co-ed halls have a lot of benefits over single gender - familiarity tends to breed respect. I doubt that that’s the case over the summer.</p>
<p>“The doors are often wedged open with rocks and students let anybody in without asking for ID.”
Absolutely the norm on a college campus - the students themselves are the biggest circumventors of measures taken to protect them.</p>
<p>“I was really concerned that the only bathrooms are large and unlockable. When she takes a shower, anybody could just walk in. Because it is normally a girls dorm there is no label except a paper stick- on one that fell off twice during the day while we were there.”
It certainly doesn’t sound as if a lot of pains were taken to prepare to welcome HS students. On a college campus, college students are adults for the sake of liability - even 17-year old college students. But 17 year-old HS students are legal minors and the college is held to a higher standard of liability. So yes, I think your concerns are valid. But consider this - the situation is probably not a lot different than one would find in an apartment setting, and on a campus, you typically have a more protective and student-savvy Public Safety force looking out for students. Probably your best peace of mind would come from having your D check in several times a day at the start on a cell phone, to let you know what the dynamics of people on her hall are. </p>
<p>I’d be interested in knowing what campus she’s visiting. Do you feel OK about sharing that?</p>
<p>Princeton?</p>
<p>In my experience, summer programs at colleges are very poorly supervised/chaperoned.</p>
<p>But I wonder if that’s especially the case at the Ivies, since they don’t need to put their best foot (feet?) forward to attract summer program attendees as prospective students? And would that extend to regular student life in general?</p>
<p>Which Ivy are you talking about? I have experience with a summer program at Brown…</p>
<p>As GADad indicates, this is not going to be far from the norm. One of the best things you can do for your high school S/D, particularly a D, is to prepare them for life outside a cocoon, including situational awareness, self-responsibility, and never assuming that other people are going to follow the rules, be it stopping for a stop sign or leaving a dorm door open.</p>
<p>Leaving dorm rooms open is an issue at practically any college and a major factor in the theft of laptops. One year, my S’s LAC reported 60 laptops stolen in the space of 3 months.</p>
<p>Just as an addition:before I left I spoke to the group’s RA, a student there during the year, who felt it was not an issue. I also spoke to two other RA’s in the dorm who were monitering two different organizations holding summer programs there who also were students and they felt it was a non-issue. My daughter has begged me not to contact the group’s organizers as this is a free program she had to compete very hard to get into but I am just not sure they are aware of this- they handle the intellectual part of the program- and were not part of the check in process. My feeling is this: would anyone check into a motel and agree to use community unlocked poorly labeled showers and toilets? Of course not, it wouldn’t be safe…</p>
<p>I believe that during the regular school year, some argument could be made that this is perhaps not completely inappropriate as everyone is an admitted student, they are there long enough so that people have an idea of who belongs etc and relationships are formed but I just don’t think this applies here.</p>
<p>At S’s programs (2 so far):Penn State…dorm building was dedicated to the Summer HS Program only,floors were single sex.Room key was needed to open the floor bathroom.Program had an office right where you entered the building staffed at all times.
At U of Miami …currently there…building is shared by other programs…not adults though… but floor is dedicated to this program and is single sex,same for a girls floor.Its suite style so I guess no bathroom issues.Don’t know about issues with propping open the outside doors.There is a security guard at the buildings entrance I am told.</p>
<p>I’m afraid that the motel analogy does not hold up. There are far more substantial issues that your sons and daughters will be addressing in a matter of months. “Wrong” showers and toilets are far down the scale and in much of the world would rate nothing more than an “excuse me.”<br>
“Safe” is not nearly so much an issue as “comfort zone.” I suspect, from your daughter begging you not to make a big deal about this, that your daughter is already clued in.</p>
<p>D did Duke TIP program at Wake Forest at 15 - segregated the HS kids from any other programs, and there was strict oversight. Neither she nor I ever felt as though there was a safety or modesty issue.</p>
<p>Molly, propped open doors are a big red flag for me. Schools invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on key cards, bar coded entry systems, campus police with foot, bike, and vehicle patrols, etc. and it all gets circumvented by a few lazy kids with a rock who think they are immune from reality.</p>
<p>I would call campus police and not even bother with the organizers of the program. Professionals in law enforcement know that the awareness of people in the community is a more important element to public safety than all the technology in the world… and they will take immediate steps to caution the RA’s about monitoring the entryways.</p>
<p>DD is also on a huge college campus attending a program there and staying in a large coed dorm. The students in this program are the only ones permitted in the dorms. Also the students are required to stay within a certain area of the campus. People who are not part of their program are not allowed there (even friends…we have a friend who wanted to visit DD…not allowed). We (the parents) knew about this before she went. The reality is that in one year she will be preparing to go to college and things like her living situation (many many dorms these days are coed) will be out of our control. We believe she has good common sense and is careful. Beyond that, there really isn’t anything more we can do. I would stop worrying about the dorm situation at this summer program. The kids are kept VERY VERY busy at these programs and spend little time in the dorms. My daughter reports that few girls go anywhere alone (including the bathroom…where I am, girls travel in “packs” not singly). These summer programs have their own reputations to be cautious of, and having a problem in the housing could jeopardize it. I would suggest that you stop worrying about this.</p>
<p>I agree with Blossom that doors being propped open is an issue. When you go on college tours wouldn’t you be surprised if the tour guide stated that the dorm doors were open 24/7? All those nice blue lights mean nothing if the dorm is open to all. In this day and age you lock your car, you lock your house, you don’t share passwords etc. Not that this is all good but it is reality. I think the program should set the tone. I would think it would be especially important when you have misc. groups coming and going and no one is really sure who belongs there.</p>
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<p>That is definitely asking for trouble – you should talk to the RAs, and the program administrators if necessary, about enforcement of safety policies.</p>
<p>I would worry about doors being propped open. My D is a RA/TA for a summer program at her school. All the students in that program are in one dorm. There is always a RA at the front door from 5 till midnight to help monitor the building and student movements. They also do bedchecks, etc… Security is very importatnt to them, it is a city campus.</p>
<p>My S is at the Governor’s Scholar Program at a rural school where there are many programs from sports to music. He must have his lanyard on his neck at all times with his student ID to identify what program he is with. They are also given a day perimeter and a evening perimeter to use. The ID helps them to know if they are off the assigned perimeter.</p>
<p>I suppose I should be clear that students <em>should</em> be mindful of security and not prop doors open and such. But what <em>should</em> be and what should be expected are often two different things…and in my own paranoid way, I never count on what <em>should</em> be.</p>
<p>I also suspect that there’s a difference between student attitudes in environments such as, say, NYU and, oh, Grinnell.</p>
<p>My 14 daughter is in a summer program on a college campus. All exterior dorm doors were alarmed such that any entry or exit would set off an alarm. Only acceptable entry was a card swipe, 24hr security monitored entrance. Pre-college students were housed separately from college students. Floors were not coed.
I would be VERY uncomfortable with the situation you described. I would definitely call the Director of Housing or the Coordinator of the summer program to inquire about the steps taken to insure the safety of the residents. I work on a college campus. I know that students are naive about safety issues, but the college should be actively targeting and consequating safety violations (doors propped with rocks, etc).</p>