At Siena College, hosting visitors of the campus community and guests is a privilege. In keeping with the Franciscan and Catholic identity of the College and our emphasis on respect of the individual. The College’s visitor and guest policies are meant to promote these values, to protect residents and their guests and to safeguard the quality of our life together. The following definitions and regulations of the visitor and guest policies are outlined below.
Definitions:
The following definitions will apply to the various policies for visitation in the Siena residence living communities:
- Guest: is defined as any person who is not affiliated with the College as a current matriculated student, employee or faculty member.
- Visitor: is defined as a Siena College student, staff, faculty or employee who is not an assigned resident of the particular room, suite or townhouse. College officials and employees who are in student rooms for the purposes of fulfilling job responsibilities are not considered visitors.
- Commuter students: visiting the residence halls are considered visitors and therefore must abide by the visitation policy. If a commuter student is visiting the residence halls with nonstudents (guests), they are required to register their guests.
Visitation and Guest Policy
- A student’s right to have a guest/visitor is, in all cases, superseded by the roommates’, suitemates’ or townhouse- mates’ right to uninterrupted use of the room/suite or townhouse. A student hosting guests and/or visitors must ensure that doing so does not disrupt any roommate’s right to expect to be able to read, study and sleep in their room free from the undue interference of guests/visitors.
- The safety of the Siena Community, including guests, is paramount. Therefore, all guests must be registered, even if they do not plan to spend the night. To register a guest, the host must complete a guest registration form available online at www.siena.edu/guestregistrationform. The guest registration form must be completed prior to the arrival of one’s guest. Hosts are encouraged to register their guests 48 hours prior to the guest’s arrival to campus. The registration form is mobile device friendly for ease of registering guests. Guests are to be provided with a copy of the form and are expected to keep it in their possession for the duration of their stay.
- Students are permitted to host/register a maximum of two guests at any one time. In addition, a student may host overnight guests on a limited and infrequent basis.
- Any individual guest is limited to one two-night overnight stay on campus per 30 days. For an exception to this limit, a student should seek permission from the Residence Director on duty, who may be contacted via Public Safety.
- Students may only host overnight guests/visitors of: • traditional college age • the same sex • at least 17 years of age or older (including siblings), unless prior approval provided through designated College program sponsor. *Family Weekend: students participating in family weekend will be allowed to host siblings (opposite sex) on this weekend in conformance with the registration and approval process required of participating resident students. Any guests of the opposite sex must either find off-campus accommodations or they may stay with another student of the same sex, who must be identified on the guest registration form.
- Non-student guests that are under 17 years of age, may be granted overnight permission if their visit to campus is of an official capacity and/or sponsored by a specific college department. The hosting student must follow existing guest registration guidelines and requirements and the supporting department must notify and receive approval from the Compliance Office at least one week prior to the visit (including a staff contact person). Under 17 year old guests are limited to visit only Sunday through Thursday.
- To ensure a safe campus supportive of the College’s mission, the College reserves the right to restrict guests. Students may not be permitted to register/host guests during specified weekends or high-risk time periods, which are determined at the discretion of the Vice President for Student Life. Any such restrictions will be announced in advance. In addition, guests are not permitted during the first week of each semester or during final-exam time periods in order to support student academic success. Guests are also not permitted during Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break or Easter break. Guests are restricted during summer session housing as designated on the summer housing agreement.
- Visitation hours and designated 24-hour spaces: Visitation hours are defined as the time period that students living on campus may host visitors and guests in their individual rooms. Visitation hours apply to the individual residence halls and the individual bedrooms and upstairs of all townhouses.
Visitation hours in all campus residences are:
Sunday-Thursday: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Friday and Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.
24-hour visitation is permitted in the lobbies of each residence hall. - After visitation hours, students may host visitors of the same gender subject to the approval of all residents of the room, suite or townhouse.
- Cohabitation is defined as living together. Only assigned residents of a townhouse, suite or room may take up residence/live in the assigned room/suite/townhouse. The College does not permit anyone to live in a room/suite or townhouse except those assigned to that room by the College.
- Guest vehicles must be registered with the College through the Online Guest Registration system (Friday – Sunday) or by visiting Public Safety (Monday-Thursday). Students who register a guest between Friday and Sunday will have the option to fill out the guest vehicle registration form online. Once the form is properly completed an email will be sent to the guest with the parking permit. Between Monday and Thursday the guest must obtain a temporary parking permit from Public Safety which is located in Hines Hall. To obtain a temporary parking permit, guests must provide a copy of the guest registration form, a valid license and vehicle registration. Unregistered vehicles of guests are subject to be towed in accordance with traffic rules and regulations.
- Guests are not permitted to bring alcohol to campus regardless of their age or the age of their host.
- Any guest is expected to abide by all College policies and all state or federal laws. Any guest who violates a policy or law may be required to leave the College immediately. Any guest that is not registered will be required to leave campus immediately. The person may be notified in writing that they are restricted from College property until further notice.
- The College reserves the right to take action under the Code of Student Conduct for students found in violation of this Visitor and Guest Policy, particularly, in those cases that involve disruption to roommates or the residential community.