Lathrop escort policy goes to night shift

MU’s Lathrop Hall has changed its escort policy from an around-the-clock watch to a night shift.

Until Oct. 23, the all-female dormitory had a 24-hour escort policy — meaning that anyone who is not a resident of the hall could not leave the lobby area without a female escort.

According to the new policy, a nonresident must have a female escort out of the lobby area from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m., seven days a week. These are the hours when the front desk of the hall is not staffed.

Frankie Minor, director of Residential Life, said Johnston Hall adopted the same policy a few years ago and has not had many problems with it.

Andrew Pollom, the residential hall coordinator for Lathrop, said the women were allowed to suggest new policies to the hall council, which was placed in charge of a voting process.

Three policies were put before the residents: One was sticking with the old policy and two were modifying the policy to fill escort-needed hours. Eighty-two percent of the residents voted in the final vote, with the night-shift policy edging out the other possibilities by 24 votes.

— Krista Nichols