Three residence halls will allow overnight visitors of the opposite sex for the 2010-11 year, implementing a policy change that’s been in the works for more than a decade.

The former policy prohibiting 24-hour visitation was rescinded by the Board of Trustees at their official meeting on July 15. Bragaw, North and Turlington are the three halls allowing members of the opposite gender to stay overnight.

The housing visitation policy is now under Students Affairs responsibility.

“The current policy has been rescinded and there is a regulation now that comes under the jurisdiction of Dr. [Tom] Stafford,” said Susan Grant, director of University Housing.

On-campus residents have until July 26 to contact the Housing Assignments office for a reassignment or they will be unable to change their assignments.

According to Kyle Winters, president of the Inter-Residence Council, the three dorms were carefully chosen based on specific details.

Winters said IRC’s proposal included using one residence hall from each of the three campus regions, both suite style and hall style. Winters also said IRC used the percentage of freshmen in each of the dorms to determine their choices.

“We wanted to get something on East, Central and West [campuses],” Winters said. “We’re trying to provide flexibility and so far we haven’t seen anything that would say it’s going to be less comfortable or less safe.”

Winters said the proposal was based on survey data IRC has been collecting over the last few years and that the data shows a strong correlation for needed change.

“Based on surveys in ’05, ‘07 and ’09 at least 1,500 residents on campus were asked about how they feel now with regards to the visitation policy and how they would feel differently about security,” Winters said. “Even though there is a strong support for 24-hour visitation in the data, there’s an even stronger support saying that the current system doesn’t work.”

Winters said this decision has been a long time coming and that no other UNC System school has a policy preventing members of the opposite gender from staying overnight.

“IRC has been working on this for about 15 years,” Winters said. “We’re the only school in the UNC System to have no 24-hour visitation, and [with regards to] comparable schools including Clemson, Maryland, and Florida State, we’re the only school in that group to have no 24-hour visitation.”

Grant explained the Housing Advisory Committee will receive reports in the spring based on data from the fall semester’s student opinions.

“The Housing Advisory Committee is going to want an assessment of the impact of 24-hour visitation. So they’re going to be asking about students impressions of security, perhaps privacy and comfort level with 24-hour visitation in those buildings,” Grant said.