FAQs

Students are not permitted to bring a car to campus for the first two semesters they are at Simon’s Rock. Sophomores and above must register vehicles with Campus Safety.

During the week-long breaks (there are two each semester), students are expected to vacate the residence halls, which close at noon on the first Saturday of break (see the Academic Calendar). Limited housing is available for students whose homes are more than 300 miles from the campus; those who wish to stay must submit a written request at the Office of Residence Life. Information and deadlines will be distributed two weeks prior to break.

Students who have not received permission to be on campus during break are expected to remain off-campus for the duration. Residents may not return until the residence halls reopen at noon on the second Sunday of break.

Individual visitors are allowed on campus for a total of four visits of up to 24 hours each per semester. These may be four overnight visits, one four-day visit, or any other combination thereof. Students must sign in their guests at the Campus Safety office upon their arrival. It is expected that a student will clear all guests with their roommate(s) before inviting them to stay. All residents of a room must agree to guests or they are not permitted.

In some circumstances, an extension of the visit might be granted. Requests for extensions must be made to the director of residence life during normal business hours and before the guest arrives.

In the Tri-dorms, residents must abide by parietals (see below). In single-sex residence halls, residents may only sign in guests of the same sex. Opposite-sex guests must be signed in by and stay with a resident of the same sex in another residence hall.

Parietals are closing times for the Tri-dorms. Crosby, Dolliver, and Kendrick are closed to nonresidents at midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 1:00 a.m. on weekends. The buildings reopen at 7:00 a.m. In between, only residents of each building are permitted to be inside; all nonresidents must vacate at closing time. Nonresidents found within a building during Parietals will be charged with an infraction.

Students are not permitted to keep pets of any kind at Simon’s Rock. Exceptions may be made for freshwater fish in a small tank. See the Student Handbook  for specifics of the pet policy.

Each April, students participate in Housing Selection to determine where they will live the following year. Students petition for group housing in two rounds; once group housing is distributed, the remaining students are assigned random lottery numbers and choose rooms in number order within their graduating class.

We try to make the room choosing/assignment process as fair as possible, but the variety of rooms and types of space on campus means that not everyone will end up living in their “dream” space. Students are given an opportunity to petition for a room change at the end of the fall semester. While there is no guarantee that a specific requested space will become available over Intersession, the number of students leaving to study away or requesting reassignment means that some change is possible.

Students who would like to “swap” room assignments on a one-to-one basis may petition the director of residence life for permission to do so. Moving without Residence Life pre approval is not permitted and can result in fines. For everyone’s safety, it’s important that our records correctly reflect who is living where on campus.

While most students would concentrate better, and indeed be happier, in a room all their own, the campus cannot accommodate all requests for singles. In addition, the nature of space on a college campus, the number of students under a single roof, makes the expectation of “quiet” and the absence of distraction an unlikely condition even in a single room. Students who need a more peaceful, distraction-free environment in which to study are encouraged to seek out designated study spaces on campus such as those in the library.

Single rooms are limited on campus, and often the number of students with demonstrated medical/psychological need for singles exceeds the number of available rooms. Special requests are accommodated based on the severity of need, the order in which the requests are received, and the availability of space.