Monday, Sept. 26th, Residence Life announced it would be changing its policy on charges for temporary lockouts. The change allows each student to receive one free lock-out per academic year. All additional lockouts will result in a $40 fee being charged to the student’s account.
The previous policy, which was introduced during the 2022-23 academic year, instituted a $40 fee for all lockouts, with no free lockouts. Prior to the current academic year, Residence Life at the College of William and Mary did not charge any fees for students temporarily locked out of their assigned residences.
Director of Housing and Residence Life Harriet Kandell discussed in the email how members of the Residence Life staff had met with Student Assembly President John Cho ’23 and Residence Hall Association President Delaney Brewer ’23 to discuss the old lockout policy implemented at the beginning of the Fall 2022 semester and to hear more specific student concerns.
“I want you to know we heard your concerns and are responding by making a change to the policy,” Kandell said in the email sent to students.
The statement also discussed changing rates of lockouts throughout the beginning of this semester.
“Since announcing the charge for lockouts, our records indicate that there has been a 50% reduction in lockouts comparing data from August/September 2021 to August/September 2022,” Kandell wrote. “We can infer from that dramatic reduction having a fee associated with lockouts is encouraging more students to carry their keys.”
Students who have already received a lockout this semester will not be charged the $40 fee, as that will be counted as their one free lockout.
