EDITED: The tentative date for the town hall changed to the confirmed date.

NEIU and the Nest management sent an email to Nest residents on Feb. 8, 2024, reminding them of the Nest’s guest policy. Nest residents were quick to note that the policy in the email differed from the one on the leases they had signed in the early fall of 2023. 

The email detailed the current policy and included limitations on times that visitors are allowed in the Nest. According to the email, “Guest Visitation Hours” are limited to:

• Sunday through Thursday: 8:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M.
• Friday and Saturday: 8:00 A.M. to 2:00 A.M.

The email also says that overnight stays are limited to Friday and Saturday nights. Guests can only stay overnight with the consent of all roommates.

The Independent obtained a copy of a Nest Lease agreement. In that agreement, in Section 5c on page 5 of the lease, “Additional policies and regulations may be provided to the Resident on or before move-in day and will be outlined in the Resident Handbook.”

Dr. Terry Mena, NEIU’s Vice President for Student Affairs, said the guest policy was an older policy that had already been in place. However, Dr. Mena admitted that the current Resident Handbook had not been published at the time the reminder had been sent. He said that Nest management had gone over the policies with residents in a meeting in the fall, but that they were not made available in print for students to review after the meeting.

According to the lease agreement in Section 14 on page 8, it can “to the extent allowed by law, we can revise, change, amend, expand or discontinue the rules, regulations and policies at any time at our sole discretion by posting a notice for 30 days on a bulletin board or other area that we designate for notices to Residents or by written notice to you.”

The current, 2023-2024 Resident Handbook is now available online in the Nest’s Resident Portal.

In a meeting of the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate on Feb. 2, 2024. That date has been confirmed to be Wed. March 6, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in Bernard J. Brommel Hall (BBH) Room 101.

“I’m looking forward tremendously to the town hall… because this is a shared community,” Mena said. “It’s not Dr. Mena is the all and be all for Student Affairs or the university. Students should set expectations for themselves and how they hold each other accountable… This dialogue is definitely going to take down a lot of different pathways, which is good healthy discussions.”

Some Nest residents spoke to the Independent on condition of anonymity because, as one student resident said, they feared they would be “targeted by management,” and not have their lease renewed.

One of them said they felt the restrictions were, “very unfair, considering we pay almost $12,000.”

“We are being treated like children,” they said. They said that if the administration 

did not change the guest policy, they would move out of the Nest, adding, “There is no next year.”

Two other residents who spoke with the Independent said that they could find a better apartment near NEIU for the same price. One is actively planning to move out of the Nest after the spring semester of 2024.

“It’s all very silly,” said Nick Sennett, the Program Director for WZRD and a resident of the Nest. “I have friends who have had long-term relationships which have been cleared that the person can stay over by roommates and everything. And according to the old guest policy, they would have been allowed to stay over. And the sudden policy change has completely screwed them over.”

Asha Brown, another student residing at the Nest, said she thinks the $100 fee for a first-time offense is too high. 

“Considering that we are an HSI [Hispanic serving institution] the majority of our students are low-income, first-generation,” she said, “Such a large fee for a first-time offense is not affordable for a lot of us.”

Brown added, “The social, emotional, and mental health implications of this policy will likely be negative for residents.”

There is also a Change.org petition with over 100 signatures seeking to alter the guest policy.