Boarding rules or broken bonds?

Connection truly matters here at San Domenico. And as one of the international students, I do admit that the school, as always, does a really good job in fostering those connections in many aspects. There are many times when I feel like having a second home, and I am sure that many other international students feel this way as well.

But as an international student living in the dorms, it can sometimes feel disconnected with the other day students, especially due to the fact that day students are still not allowed to access or sleepover in the dorms.

If you are a new student, you might be wondering why the policy is the way it is now. I did too and still do. Ever since my sophomore year, I have been told that because of Covid, day students cannot go into the dorms. This made sense two years ago. But now that Covid is no longer an immediate concern, why are day students still restricted from hanging out with their friends in the dorms?

As a senior, I’ve never had my day student friends sleepover in my dorm room. It’s disheartening because the existing policy has created a divide between dorm life and connections with the day students.

I used to complain about this all the time when I was alone in my room. And every time when I tried to talk about it to an adult, I always got this vague but also firm response.

“Yeah… We don’t know yet, but the dorms are still closed to day students at this time.”

The dorm policy that restricts day students from visiting or staying overnight, has been a longstanding source of frustration to the boarding community. I believe that there is an opportunity for our community to change and bridge the gap between boarding and day students. Closing this gap requires the reopening of the dorms to everyone, and I am happy to say that faculties and students have been working on it recently. Because I am sure that this change would be a strong power to foster an even more unified community here at San Domenico.