Housing will enter phase three of the visitor policy to allow the general DePaul student body guests into residential buildings starting today.

The policy will still allow one to two vaccinated parents or guardians to be in the dorms and will be updated to allow one to two DePaul students into the residential buildings too, according to the Department of Housing.

“Due to the fact that variants still make us vulnerable in this pandemic, we chose a phased approach with the visitor policy in order to keep the DePaul community safe,” said Director of Residential Education Rod Waters. He said permitting 1 to 2 vaccinated parent or guardian visitors or 1 to 2 resident visitors was phase two of the plan. The host and visitor protocols and responsibilities will be outlined on the Visitor Policies webpage Monday when phase three is in action.

Students like freshman Gylani Owens said they were glad for the upcoming update to the visitor policy. Owens said she was wanting the policy to update to better accommodate commuter students.

“Commuter students that either can’t afford to live on campus or prefer to live off campus deserve to see their friends and visit their dorms,” Owens said. “So long as they’re vaccinated, of course. By not allowing commuter students or off-campus students into the dorms or apartments, it’s only hurting their ability to maintain friendships and socialize with those who live on campus.”

Though this update is beneficial to DePaul students who made most of their friends with other DePaul students, those who have friends outside DePaul or want family members to be allowed into the dorms are dissatisfied. Freshman Hailey Bosek said she is looking forward to the update when these visitors will be allowed into the residential buildings.

“I have friends that don’t go to DePaul that would love to stay the night or just chill in my dorm,” Bosek said. “Instead we have to find other places [which] isn’t stopping people from hanging out without a mask, it just makes it super inconvenient.”

Many of these students who are in the same mentality of Bosek are awaiting the next update, which is to take place in two weeks. Patricia Nicandro, marketing and communications manager for the Department of Housing, Dining and Student Centers, said there will be a new update to the Visitor Policies web page after every two-week evaluation period.

Freshman Nickolas Krueger said in the next adjustment to the policy, he would like there to be an unlimited number of guests a resident can bring into the residential building. “[The next update] should be unlimited DePaul [visitors] and one to two outside visitors if they are vaccinated,” Krueger said. “We’ve got friends from home that we would love to have around. So let’s be able to bring them in.”

The next visitor policy update for residential housing will be on Nov. 15.