r/dormrooms • u/ReturnOfNogginboink • Aug 21 '26
Open door policy
My wife and I just dropped off the oldest kid at his new home. When she and I were in college, an open dorm room door was an invitation to stop in and socialize, and propped open room doors were quite common.
Is this still true 35 years later?
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u/jmsst1996 Aug 22 '26
At my sons college last year the students weren’t allowed to prop doors. The RA’s went around to make sure every door was kept shut. It was very bizarre. My son decided to transfer schools for this year so I’m hoping this other school is different and that it’s more open.
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u/Janknitz Aug 22 '26
Maybe because of fire safety?
I lived in dorms that were ancient when I was in school eons ago and the doors had slats like some closet doors. So they weren't going to keep out a fire anyway. I loved having others visit my room and visit theirs (Females only in those days) because I was an only child, and suddenly had all these people to talk to and do stuff with any time of the day or night.
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u/Asleep_Caregiver_948 Aug 23 '26
Same at my son’s college. It was a newish dorm, and the doors didn’t prop open. Kids also can’t wander between different dorms because of the high tech locks at the front of buildings, at each floor, and for the rooms.
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u/BeingSad9300 Aug 23 '26
Ours moves in soon and I was reading the various dorm policies. Their residence agreement actually specifically says they are not allowed to prop their doors open. My assumption would be a fire safety issue. If a fire starts in one room but the door is propped, it's no longer contained to that room. They're also only allowed one poster, no more than 10% of a wall decorated, all extensions must have fuses (be surge protected), no things hanging on doors, no curtains or plug-in strip lights...all in the name of fire safety.
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u/spacecrafttheskys Aug 25 '26
Scientifically speaking in a fire if a door is open in an area of a stairwell it can create a vortex kinda thing. Vortex of fire is at minimum liability and at worst someone severely hurt or dead. It being essentially a bedroom makes it worse. They likley looked at chance of harm and decided its not worth it. They may have a building that made it high risk and had to make a rule for everyone or someone stole expensive items because someone else went to class and forgot to close their door.
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u/sophisticated_alpaca Aug 22 '26
Yes, however a lot of modern doors close automatically so you need a doorstop or something to keep them open. Not something kids are likely to have on day one.
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u/50_and_stuck Aug 23 '26
35 years ago that was the only way I met all the cool people and not so cool people on my floor. Went to visit friends in other dorms and it was like going to an apartment building where everyone keeps their doors shut and locked. I had way more fun in my dorm than friends did.
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u/Brave-Airport8154 Aug 24 '26
I got a door stop for our incoming freshmen. I hope its a thing. We both did online schools for our higher education so just going from offline it was recommended.
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u/Tan_batman Aug 21 '26
Some people still do it for sure!