Last Monday, freshmen and sophomores all over campus could be heard rejoicing because more open-house hours were finally extended. And it’s about time.

Students of the opposite sex will now be able to visit each other’s dorm rooms on Wednesday and Thursday nights instead of having to find on- and off-campus places to hang with their friends.

The Editorial Board fully supports ACU’s addition of open-house nights because it will help freshman and sophomore students bond outside of just their dorm halls. It’s hard enough to make friends in a new situation without the added pressure of finding a place to hang out with them outside their residence halls. Now, students can surpass that old-fashioned (and high school-like) thinking that it’s wrong to have friends of the opposite sex and get to know each other with a little less constraint.

There is still the question of why it took so long for ACU to allow one more visitation day, though.

Many might argue that men and women visiting each other’s dorms is not safe because of the situations they could get into. That’s not a sound reason.

On the contrary, it seems it would be safer for students to meet in a dorm than elsewhere because they are required to check in all visitors and keep doors open at all times. Also, since this is an alcohol-free campus, students who choose to stay in dorms with their friends on Thursday nights are probably making safer choices than those who go to Guitars. And last, there’s the fact that these are college students who will probably find a way to do what they want, even if it’s not allowed. At least open house will give them the chance to make smarter decisions.

In the end, more open-house days for students will allow them to bond with each other and actually feel like they have a little more freedom. Props to ACU for making life in the dorms more fun, but why stop there? Open house days seem to help more than they hurt, so how about taking it one step farther and considering open house hours on weekends, too?