By Ella Bosman
In some residences, staying over is as easy as tapping your student card to open the door. Yet, in most others, the process is almost as impossible as sneaking a person into the house of strict parents.
On paper, they all operate under the same university guidelines which state that visitors must be signed in and that overnight stays are prohibited. However, in practice, the rules seem to diverge greatly – often along a gendered axis .
For example, at Monica Ladies’ Residence, visiting hours are firm: male visitors are only allowed above the ground floor from 11:00 to 23:00 and female visitors from 09:00. During the A2 period, the visiting hours are reduced to 19:00.
“We want to ensure that, at some point in the night, the space belongs to us,” says Jade Wainwright, a third-year BA (Humanities) student and Monica’s Prim.
“The shared nature of bathrooms and kitchens,” she adds, “makes stricter enforcement necessary because it’s not an apartment – it’s a communal space.”
Beth Meades, a first-year BA (Humanities) student and Monica resident said, “I think the policy is pretty fair, in the sense that it’s considerate towards the women living there.” She thinks that the rules are enforced differently in male and female residences saying, “I haven’t personally stayed over at a men’s res, but I have heard that it’s allowed.”
Those suspicions are confirmed at Helderberg where Connor McNaughton, a third-year BCom (Industrial Psychology) student, admits that visitor rules are “not strictly managed at all.” Other men’s residences were more hesitant to speak openly, with several students declining interviews or offering vague comments.
On the other hand, Izan Coetzee, the Huis Marais Prim and a third-year BEng (Chemical Engineering) student, states that their approach is guided by an “ethos of family and respect.” He adds, “We take pride in welcoming guests with open arms while still ensuring they respect the values and traditions that define us.” He further describes the approach as “a balance between structure and flexibility,” stating, “The balance comes from living by our values rather than enforcing rules for their own sake.”
These sentiments highlight that the question of “in or out” for visitors is just the tip of a much deeper iceberg of values and tradition. What emerges is less about written policy than culture.
In co-ed residences like Metanoia, enforcement is framed around safety and accountability. Current Prim, Elbun Lambrechts, a fourth-year BEd (Intermediate Phase Education) student, says, “It’s a case-by-case situation, but the point is to keep track of who’s in the building.” A recent house WhatsApp message sent on the HC group to students reminded them bluntly, “Knock Knock… Who’s There? Hopefully signed in!”
The residence visitor policy space is truly a patchwork system where rules depend on tradition as much as regulation. As Wainwright puts it, “These rules have been here for ages, and for now they work.” For the time being, the divide remains between the values each residence chooses to enforce.
