The RA/SA team at the Northeast Community College Dormitories are trying to get something in motion that has never been tried at Northeast Community College: opposite gender overnight guests.
When first confronted with the thought of an overnight guest of the opposite gender, it doesn’t seem so different or abnormal. Here at NECC though, it causes an issue that requires months to explore the possibilities of.
“Even though I’ve only been here about a year, I can tell that this is a very conservative campus,” SA Brady Neilan said. “I’ve been told how different it was a few years ago, and it’s very different from what I’d heard, but we are still very conservative about certain issues.”
At last year’s annual Student Leadership Development Series, the RA/SA team came up with a few issues and ideas about things that they think would’ve changed NECC for the better. This was one of the solutions that they came up with. To further their knowledge about what the student body would think about the change, a committee of three RAs and SAs created a survey for the students.
“A lot would be okay with the idea,” said RA Nathan Arens. “However, some are just happy with the way things are right now.”
If the project does come to pass, and opposite gender overnight guests are allowed, then NECC will be one of the first two-year schools in Nebraska to ever try such a thing. So far, the committee on the project has talked to seven other colleges including: University of South Dakota, Western Nebraska Community College and University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
“They seem very serious about what they’re doing though this kind of thing has been tried before,” Student Development Coordinator Jon Langlois said. “It’s not something that happens overnight, and that’s probably what stopped the other groups from pursuing it. Right now though, the students are trying to do this the right way.”

Whether or not opposite gender overnight guest policies work depends on both the campus and the student population according to Pete Rizzo, Director of Residence and Student Life, who has worked or lived at both Michigan and the University of South Dakota.
“The students felt comfortable, and that was the important thing. The big difference is that those policies were already in place while I was there. These students are serious, but change takes time, and they understand that.”