The Heiress, 1950/Spelman College Photographs Collection
The Heiress, 1950/Spelman College Photographs Collection
Visitation from the Perspective of Purity Culture at Spelman College
Visitation from the Perspective of Purity Culture at Spelman College
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, the upperclassmen of Morehouse were granted visitation. At Spelman, Resident Directors (RDs) weaponize visitation to make students conform to the rules. Visitation has trapped the campus in heteronormative, patriarchal and misogynistic thinking.
In a recent email sent to Spelman residents, dates were provided for required visitation meetings. However, most upperclassmen have already attended similar meetings in previous years. The final meeting date is Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, which likely means upperclassmen will not be granted visitation until after Homecoming.
“After a month of being a college student, why can’t my family come visit for Labor Day. Or our Clark Cousins and Morehouse brothers,” sophomore AnnMarie McDaniel said.
Across the gates, Benjamin E. Mays Hall houses a mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen. Yet, only the older students were granted visitation privileges. How, then, are they expected to regulate who in the dorm is allowed to have visitors?
The Morehouse Residential Advisors (RAs) often do not interfere with happenings in the building; instead, within the guidelines, they give the men the freedom of movement.
“It’s interesting that we pay $50,000 a year in tuition, yet we’re still being told who can and cannot enter our living space, and when they’re allowed to do so,” said an anonymous Spelman junior.
Within a patriarchal society, men are often expected and even encouraged to engage in sexual relations, while women are more likely to be condemned for the same behavior. The SpelHouse community reinforces these double standards through strict visitation policies.
For Black women, sexuality will forever be a charged issue. Many women struggle to dispel the damaging stereotype of the licentious black female, while also navigating their sexualities.
Spelman women are expected to embody the ideals of purity, academic excellence and godliness. Strict visitation rules and the stigmas reinforce the expectation on students to explore their sexualities privately.
In the past, the college enforced rigid rules that were worse than those in place today. Students had to adhere to curfews and laws regarding male callers. The dorms had house mothers or matrons who provided guidance and structure for young women away from home.
Women were expected to be clean, attend Sunday service and uphold good standing with their family. In the 1950s, the college heavily regulated movement, with most students unable to leave campus without permission.
The old calling hours for male visitors were from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., directly conflicting with the dining hall’s services. It forced Spelman women to choose between dinner and seeing a male guest.
The fence around the institution served as a chastity belt rather than a place for a young woman to flourish.
“Most of the rules of regulation in respect to students were about the policing of our autonomy. There was no autonomy about how I wanted to craft my college life,” director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center, Beverly Guy Sheftall said.
The school should not want the women leaving with a “cloudy awareness” of the real world. Even in the early 2000s, Dr. Audrey F. Manley continued the idea that Spelman women were supposed to be pure.
Manley pushed for abstinence on campus by removing condoms, as she believed they encouraged students to have sex. Currently, the availability of contraceptives is scarce, and when it is mentioned, students have to rely on an anonymous system.
In contrast, during last year’s New Student Orientation, Morehouse Residential Advisors (RAs) handed out boxes of condoms to students to promote safe sex.
The SpelHouse community is terrified of an impure Spelman woman. Terrified of giving upperclassmen agency over their visitation before taking away their autonomy.
Even the online pushback by labeling the new SpelHouse co-ed residence hall as the “STD Dorm” reinforces longstanding stigmas surrounding sexuality on campus. Co-ed housing has existed at HBCUs for decades, so why is it suddenly a problem for SpelHouse?
The controversy raises a larger question: if a co-ed resident hall is in construction, why are upperclasswomen still subject to strict visitation policies?
“Visitation feels outdated. I believe it will become obsolete and phased out once the co-ed dorms are built. It is the only way to ensure fairness to residential students and co-ed dorm students,” McDaniel said.
The campus has also rarely factored in queer students' visitation. People often assume that all male visitors are in the resident halls for a single purpose, when in reality, there could be several reasons.
A call has been made to the RDs to adopt new policies regarding visitation for upperclassmen. Rather than using these rules to enforce conformity, allow roommates and suitemates to create a healthy dynamic for visitation in their rooms.
Students should have the freedom to navigate young-adult relationships responsibly and to create a living environment where all parties feel comfortable.
If there isn’t a belief that upperclassmen know how to conduct themselves within the gates, how can they be expected to change the world?
Please look out for an anonymous survey on our Instagram (@thespelmanblueprint), regarding your thoughts on Spelman’s visitation.
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, the upperclassmen of Morehouse were granted visitation. At Spelman, Resident Directors (RDs) weaponize visitation to make students conform to the rules. Visitation has trapped the campus in heteronormative, patriarchal and misogynistic thinking.
In a recent email sent to Spelman residents, dates were provided for required visitation meetings. However, most upperclassmen have already attended similar meetings in previous years. The final meeting date is Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, which likely means upperclassmen will not be granted visitation until after Homecoming.
“After a month of being a college student, why can’t my family come visit for Labor Day. Or our Clark Cousins and Morehouse brothers,” sophomore AnnMarie McDaniel said.
Across the gates, Benjamin E. Mays Hall houses a mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen. Yet, only the older students were granted visitation privileges. How, then, are they expected to regulate who in the dorm is allowed to have visitors?
The Morehouse Residential Advisors (RAs) often do not interfere with happenings in the building; instead, within the guidelines, they give the men the freedom of movement.
“It’s interesting that we pay $50,000 a year in tuition, yet we’re still being told who can and cannot enter our living space, and when they’re allowed to do so,” said an anonymous Spelman junior.
Within a patriarchal society, men are often expected and even encouraged to engage in sexual relations, while women are more likely to be condemned for the same behavior. The SpelHouse community reinforces these double standards through strict visitation policies.
For Black women, sexuality will forever be a charged issue. Many women struggle to dispel the damaging stereotype of the licentious black female, while also navigating their sexualities.
Spelman women are expected to embody the ideals of purity, academic excellence and godliness. Strict visitation rules and the stigmas reinforce the expectation on students to explore their sexualities privately.
In the past, the college enforced rigid rules that were worse than those in place today. Students had to adhere to curfews and laws regarding male callers. The dorms had house mothers or matrons who provided guidance and structure for young women away from home.
Women were expected to be clean, attend Sunday service and uphold good standing with their family. In the 1950s, the college heavily regulated movement, with most students unable to leave campus without permission.
The old calling hours for male visitors were from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., directly conflicting with the dining hall’s services. It forced Spelman women to choose between dinner and seeing a male guest.
The fence around the institution served as a chastity belt rather than a place for a young woman to flourish.
“Most of the rules of regulation in respect to students were about the policing of our autonomy. There was no autonomy about how I wanted to craft my college life,” director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center, Beverly Guy Sheftall said.
The school should not want the women leaving with a “cloudy awareness” of the real world. Even in the early 2000s, Dr. Audrey F. Manley continued the idea that Spelman women were supposed to be pure.
Manley pushed for abstinence on campus by removing condoms, as she believed they encouraged students to have sex. Currently, the availability of contraceptives is scarce, and when it is mentioned, students have to rely on an anonymous system.
In contrast, during last year’s New Student Orientation, Morehouse Residential Advisors (RAs) handed out boxes of condoms to students to promote safe sex.
The SpelHouse community is terrified of an impure Spelman woman. Terrified of giving upperclassmen agency over their visitation before taking away their autonomy.
Even the online pushback by labeling the new SpelHouse co-ed residence hall as the “STD Dorm” reinforces longstanding stigmas surrounding sexuality on campus. Co-ed housing has existed at HBCUs for decades, so why is it suddenly a problem for SpelHouse?
The controversy raises a larger question: if a co-ed resident hall is in construction, why are upperclasswomen still subject to strict visitation policies?
“Visitation feels outdated. I believe it will become obsolete and phased out once the co-ed dorms are built. It is the only way to ensure fairness to residential students and co-ed dorm students,” McDaniel said.
The campus has also rarely factored in queer students' visitation. People often assume that all male visitors are in the resident halls for a single purpose, when in reality, there could be several reasons.
A call has been made to the RDs to adopt new policies regarding visitation for upperclassmen. Rather than using these rules to enforce conformity, allow roommates and suitemates to create a healthy dynamic for visitation in their rooms.
Students should have the freedom to navigate young-adult relationships responsibly and to create a living environment where all parties feel comfortable.
If there isn’t a belief that upperclassmen know how to conduct themselves within the gates, how can they be expected to change the world?
Please look out for an anonymous survey on our Instagram (@thespelmanblueprint), regarding your thoughts on Spelman’s visitation.