In an email to Tulane students living on campus Oct. 20, Housing and Residence Life (HRL) detailed a new policy for residence hall guests. On-campus students are now each allowed to have one guest who resides in any dorm. Prior to this policy change, students from different dorms were not allowed to be in each other’s residence halls. For Residential Learning Communities, only assigned residents are allowed except for from Sunday through Thursday 2-9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 2-11 p.m. 

Director of HRL Tim Lempfert said that these policies were altered in order to allow students more socialization opportunities. 

“As fall semester has progressed, Tulane has rapidly ramped up testing of all undergraduate students, particularly those who live on campus,” Lempfert said.  “Contact tracers have been diligent in reaching out to close contacts, and most of you have diligently followed masking, social distancing, isolation/quarantine procedures and other safety protocols.  As a result, we are now experiencing lower COVID-19 positivity rates. Therefore, we are revising our residence hall guest policies and reducing restrictions to provide our students with more opportunities to socialize.”

The Tulane COVID-19 action alert level remains at orange with a 0.5% seven-day average positivity rate for all tests. Tulane also ramped up testing Oct. 15 to twice weekly for all undergraduate students. 

Students are still expected to wear masks when visitors are in their dorm rooms. Students may also face up to $250 in fines per incident or more serious outcomes through the conduct process for breaking these residence hall rules. 

Lempfert also emphasizes that “significant or repeated violations may result in removal from campus housing and/or the university.”

Additionally, visitation privileges may be revoked for certain students or the university may choose to revert back to more restrictive policies if students do not adhere to the current guidelines.