Tufts University recently passed a measure in an attempt to regulate sexual activity in its dorm rooms. The new policy stipulates that students should not have sex while their roommate is in the room and that sexual activity should not interfere with their roommate’s “privacy, study or sleep,” according to the Daily Free Press.

The Tufts Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) announced that this is a response to the large number of complaints received in recent years about roommates’ sexual activities. ResLife hopes that the new policy will improve communication and relations between roommates.

“There were incidents that occurred last year, and in the past, where residents of rooms started to feel uncomfortable with what their roommates were doing in the room,” ResLife’s Assistant Director for Community and Judicial Affairs Carrie Ales-Rich told the Tufts Daily.

There have been mixed responses from students at Tufts. Some agree that the policy is reasonable. “To be in a room with someone, you have to expect them to work with whatever you want to do,” said a freshman. “It’s not too bad. It’s not like no sex in the dorm.”

However, many students feel that the measure is uncalled for. “I don’t think it’s necessary,” one student said. “I think they are imposing something that should be decided between roommates.”

Ales-Rich added that she hopes students will be able to resolve the issues on their own and that the policy is intended as a tool to facilitate compromise between roommates rather than a way to dictate students’ behavior. “We want to make perfectly clear that we do not want to hinder someone from engaging in personal or private activity,” she told the Tufts Daily. “But when it becomes uncomfortable for the roommate, we want to have something in place that empowers the residents to have a good conversation with the roommate.”

On the Amherst campus, students reacted to the change with a mixture of incredulity and comedy, with many questioning how Tufts will enforce the policy. Hayley Anderson ’12 agreed with one Tufts student when she said, “While I don’t think it’s a good idea to sexile your roommate, I think that issue is between you and your roommate.” Cate Knuff ’10 joked that, “this just means that you have to hook up with people who live in singles.”

Javier Chavez Chacon ’12 however, believed that the change could be effective and beneficial.

“From what happened to me last year, I think this is brilliant,” he said. “Because if this would happen here, it would prevent many awkward situations and would allow the roommate not getting any to sleep in his or her own bed.”

This is the second major policy change Tufts has implemented this year; the school has also been more harshly enforcing policies against underage drinking by ramping up the consequences for students caught intoxicated.