Covenant Rooms available, starting at $70 a person and up!

hmm. before you raise a ruckus too much, remember that the folks on the other end of those email addys are regular guys with families, just trying to do their jobs.
not every policy from "the man" is meant expressly to put you down, after all.
personally I find the politicking in covenant policies a tad humorous. it'll never be the place that you left.

JQ--Hey, while policies may always tick us off, there may be reasons behind them. I've heard the reasons behind this one, and I think they're pretty valid. I don't know that I would have come up with those reasons, but I can see the logic. And just so you know, students who want to come back early have the option of working for the college during orientation week. I don't know if they get paid for that work, but they get meals, which is pretty darn cool. At least they get the chance to hate the new food service before anyone else does.

Just so you know, I'm waiting up for the student that came back early and is bunking in our house to get here so we can catch up. I'd much rather have him here than in the residence hall, just so he can hate our home cooked meals... Oh hospitality, what would we do without ya?

Did you know that all the tables in the Great Hall are now topped with glass? Does that seem dangerous to anybody else?

Glass does seem easier to slide down the front hill on when it snows. I think it's very thoughtful of them to top the new tables with glass.

I know the guys behind this new policy. I've worked with them for years. I'm friends with most of them. I know some of their families. I don't want Covenant to be just the way it was when I was there. It wasn't always so good when I was there. I don't doubt there are good intentions and reasoning behind this policy.

And I think it's a terrible policy.

I think it's a mistake for the following reasons:

1. It discourages the quick formation of dorm community and freshman mentoring. Many returning Covenant students come back to the dorms early not to sit and play XBox, but to get to know and care for the newest students on their hall, and to catch up with older students who they haven't seen all summer. Denying students this opportunity only exacerbates the implicit notion that it is the RA's sole task to create community and nurture the young'ns. As a former failed RA, I think that's a notion the college can ill afford to coddle.

2. It creates financial hardship for students whose schedules force them to return early. Certainly it is not the school's responsibility to house these students. But Covenant has traditionally positioned itself as an institution that goes beyond its responsibilities, to take personal care of its "family" of undergraduates. This policy feels like a shift from that position.

3. It increases feelings of resentment from the student body toward the administration. Many students, due to immaturity and lack of perspective, have indeed developed the mistaken impression that the school is "out to get them." Just because this attitude is silly doesn't mean Covenant isn't hurting its own student life reputation by creating policies that further alienate its grumpier students.

Now, that said, I'm sure the school has good reasons for its new rule. I'd love to hear them. I have the utmost respect for Covenant's officials, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know why they make the choices they do.

my question is do students have to pay if they are doing work or are there for sports? I had to come early a couple times, once, because I got a ride with an RA and once, because my sister was a freshman. In both instances they let me move in early provided I help out a bit in random places, wh. I did gladly. Are situations like those now coming under the $70/night rule?

I am friends with both Jason & John David. I'm also friends with a good many other people in the administration.

I recently had a conversation with one of them over the nature of blogging, and covblogs in particular, and it was their hope that it would be a place for more communication, more dialogue, more information being spread amongst the broader Covenant community.

So, I think a ruckus ought to be raised, and it really isn't all that big of one anyway. It's kinda funny, since when did making a blog post, and telling people to send an e-mail suddenly seem so dang revolutionary or subservise? We sure live in a sanitary world around Covenant.

I conclusion: my big fear in this whole matter is that this decision is an indication of a deeper Covenant policy of homogenizing Covenant. Maybe I'm jumping at shadows, but I've seen little indications of this in many of the new policies coming out of the current administration. If they're moving in the direction I fear they are, they're gonna rip the soul out of that place.

I'm not a fan of the policy either, as I was a frequent early-arrival. nothing like helping the freshfolk move in.

that being said, I take issue with encouraging folks to fill the email boxes of those folks before their position is made known.

sanitary indeed. there comes a time to come down from the mountain, and fretting over rule changes on it can perhaps distract from a wider perspective?

I guess I enjoy being mostly ignorant of daily life at covenant, and I'd like others to share my joy. [insert your silly smiley of choice here]

Actually, new policy aside, the school is still pretty flexible. If you need to be back on campus for a school-related reason (such as being an RA, on the Senate, club president, etc.) you can. If you want to work full time, you can come back. Neither of these things apply to me, but JD is still letting me move my stuff in today, though I will be eating and sleeping elsewhere.

I think it makes perfect sense for the college to do this. Having people here costs the school money, especially in food, but also in things like maintenence, housekeeping, etc. Every day they have students here costs them. And every day they have students here before their scheduled period of paid residence starts costs them a lot, because they aren't getting reimbursed for it. Sure, it's great for them to do more than other educational institutions, (Which, by the way, would not dream of letting you move in early. No f-ing way.), but even though Covenant isn't a business, that doesn't mean it can act in ways that promote insolvency. If even 10 students show up two days early, I can see it costing the school hundreds of dollars. Charging students who want to come back early makes perfect sense.

Yes, community is important. But somebody's always got to pick up the tab. And the way Covenant is fixed financially now, it just can't afford to anymore.

Josiah you might want to be careful, Covenant has been known to threaten litigation to those who owned and operated domains that were associated with Covenant and yet not under their control. Dialogue may be good for the Covenant community, but it could also result in a repetition of an issue that has already been won once by the administation in years past. I do not doubt your ability to deal with it, I just recall previous attempts at establishing a post-graduation community website and the subsequent legal battles that ensued.

Matt. Do tell?