One of the best parts of living on campus is the connections you form. You can meet someone in class and ask if they want to study together in your dorm. You can even meet people in the lobby of your dorm and invite them to your room to get to know each other better. 

All of this used to be common before COVID. Once the pandemic started, many students did not feel comfortable having visitors in their dorm out of concern for their own safety. 

In dorms, COVID can spread very quickly because minimizing contact with other students is difficult due to close proximity. 

This is why ULM made the decision to suspend visitation to all residence halls. 

Tommy Walpole, the executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises, said the decision was made to maintain the health and safety of students in residence halls. 

“Each resident was required to provide either proof of a negative COVID test or take a rapid test prior to move in,” Walpole said. “Guests unfortunately are not required to provide either, and one COVID positive guest in a residence hall could result in COVID being introduced to multiple individuals.   

Many students understand why the decision was made but feel it is affecting their social life.

Ariana Brown, a graduate speech language pathology student, said she is glad ULM is protecting students’ health, but the suspension makes seeing family hard.  

“The visitation suspension limits the amount of people who are coming in and out of the dorms, decreasing the risk of exposure to COVID, which I appreciate,” Brown said. “But it sucks that my family can’t come and visit me in my dorm.” 

Walpole said the suspension will remain in place until further notice.

“We monitor guidelines from the CDC and our UL System and work with our EHS Officer daily,” Walpole said.  “When we see a decrease in cases both in the NELA area and on campus, we will review the visitation suspension.”