Strict rules are stifling friendships

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Recently my friends and I were minding our own business, watching a movie in our building’s activity room, when some RAs stormed in and told us what we were doing illegal and that we had to turn it off.

They then proceeded to tell us that, for piracy reasons, we cannot watch movies in public anywhere. We cannot watch a movie in the hallways, outside on the patio or anywhere that someone else could watch our screen.

However, luckily for us, we are indeed allowed to watch a movie in the sweet privacy of our individual cars or dorms — assuming our roommate is not in the room. We happened to be with a couple of guys, and since they aren’t allowed in our rooms we figured the activity room would be the best place to watch it.

We are constantly being told by church leaders to make good guy friends, and I cannot count the number of times I have heard the words “date boys” in the short time I’ve been here.

All of these rules seem to be promoting the exact opposite, though. Visiting hours end at 11:30 p.m. on weekdays. We are freshmen in college. Who goes to sleep at 11:30? And boys are strictly prohibited from passing the “chastity line” in our dorms. Heaven forbid they have to use a bathroom.

Maybe if the rules weren’t so uptight, we’d have a chance to make more friends. What if when we were watching the movie, another group of friends walked in and asked if they could join? Boom. I can see great friendships that were robbed right out of our hands that night.

Jessica Broadbent
Flower Mound, Texas

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