Lindsey (Wichman) Bosl
“I know that’s crazy!” was the response Concordia graduate Linsey Jo Bosl had to her alma mater’s recent revamp of campus intervisitation policy. (1) As a former employee of Concordia’s Resident Life Program she was obviously quite surprised at how different intervisitation policy is today. The changes made to Concordia College’s intervistation policy are a reflection of ideological changes in society through the years. To fully understand the connection between visitation policy and American society one must examine Concordia’s past policies regarding the topic.
When Concordia first opened in 1891, the intervisitation policy in place forbade students of opposite genders from being in each other’s dorms, except on the allotted Sunday afternoons. (2) This early policy reflects the late 19th century societal view of gender roles, in which men were the breadwinners for a family and women were delegated to domestic housekeeping duties. This societal view was also evidenced by Concordia’s curriculum in which women took domestic science courses “housekeeping, dressmaking, fancy needlework and painting, which prepared them for their essential family duties.” (3)
This seemingly harsh visitation policy remained almost unchanged until the 1970s, when visitation hours were expanded to 8 p.m. to Midnight on Saturdays and 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. on Sundays. (4) This change in policy reflects a change in American society because the 70s were arguably the height of the women’s movement in America. With the Roe v. Wade court decision, the National Organization for Women and the Equal Rights Amendment, women were becoming more and more equal to their male counterparts in the eyes of the law. (5) This shift towards gender equality in society led Concordia students to demand for more visitation hours citing that increased hours “would lead to better awareness and understanding” of the opposite sex, not promiscuity. (6) Eventually the institution caved further when in 1991 intervisitation was expanded to 28 hours per week, including weekdays.
What Bosl was referring to when she exclaimed “that’s crazy” was the recent change in Concordia’s visitation policy that eliminated visitation hours completely. (7) In spring 2014, the Student Government Association of Concordia announced that “Concordia will no longer uphold visitation restrictions in dorms on campus effective the 2014- 2015 academic year,” (8) The new policy received huge support from students as a survey showed that 86% of students said they were in favor of no visitation restrictions. (9) Residence Life Director Jasi O’Conner stated she "was not surprised by the results from the survey given the way society has changed over time.” (10)
This tie between school policy and society is reflected in a study conducted on private schools in Canada during the mid-1990s. The study focused on finding the reason for the large number of single sex schools moving to a co-educational system from 1970-1992. (11) This is very similar to the increase of visitation hours between men and women at Concordia throughout time. Though the study found that the change was mostly financially based, so the private schools could recruit from a larger student pool, some schools thought the change was “a reflection of the changes in the structure of Canadian society” and found that their school was “a 'happier' one since the switch to co-ed.”(12) Hopefully a decade from now Concordia can reflect on the discontinuation of visitation hours as a step in a better, happier direction of school policy.
We live in an ever changing society, and because of this, Concordia’s policies will also be changing. With the rising support for equality of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgendered people throughout America and the talk of colleges implementing gender neutral bathrooms, it will certainly be interesting to see just how very different Concordia will be in another ten years.
Essay by: Christopher Hacker
(1) Linsey Jo (Wichman) Bosl, interview by Gabriele Gardner, Concordia History Harvest, Concordia College, October 10th, 2014.
(2) Aubrey Schield, “Visitation Restrictions Eliminated,” The Concordian, January 22nd 2014, http://theconcordian.org/2014/01/22/visitation-restrictions-eliminated.
(3) Carroll L. Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded (Concordia College, 1991), 34. http://www.digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/cord-hm/id/421/rec/1.
(4) Engelhardt, Firm Foundation, 278.
(5) Mary Beth Norton, et. al., A People & A Nation. Vol. 2, Since 1865. 10th ed. (Cengage Learning, 2015).
(6) Engelhardt, Firm Foundation, 341.
(7) Bosl, interview.
(8) Schield, “Visitation Restrictions Eliminated.”
(9) Schield, “Visitation Restrictions Eliminated.”
(10) Schield, “Visitation Restriction Eliminated.”
(11) Mary Percival Maxwell and James D. Maxwell, “Going Co-Ed: Elite Private Schools in Canada,” The Canadian Journal of Sociology 20, no. 3 (1995): 333 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3340634.
(12) Maxwell, “Going Co-Ed,” 350.