During a forum to discuss issues with the the new director of African-American Student Affairs on Monday night, students focused on one: decreased access to the Black House.

Citing safety reasons, the new director, Carretta Cooke, decided in September to enforce the hours of the Black House, 1914 Sheridan Road, which is open 8:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday and during special weekend events.

About 30 students attended the 90-minute forum at the Black House to calmly voice their opposition to the new policy, which they said would negatively impact the sense of community felt in the house.

Cooke declined to make any decision Monday night and asked the group to submit a written proposal detailing the access policy they want for the house.

But until a final decision is reached, Cooke said she would allow students who enter the Black House before midnight to stay, and she said she would let in other students entering after midnight.

Students said that in previous years they had almost around-the-clock access to the house, even after the last work-study student left, because they were allowed to stay in the building after its official closing.

“It’s when you’ve been studying at the library until 1:30 a.m. and you’re tired of staring at the walls and you need to see other black faces, you need to be with other people,” Education sophomore Aisha Bunton said.

Like Bunton, many students said they used the late night and early morning hours to study and to congregate with peers away from their hectic daytime schedules. That shared time represented a vital unifying force for the black community on campus, they said.

“You’re taking away something dear to us,” Bunton said. “This is our home. This is our community.”

But Cooke said she didn’t see the policy as something being taken away.

“I see it as something being put in place,” she said. “I’m enforcing something that has always been part of the structure.”

Cooke emphasized that the newly enforced policy was an issue of safety and liability, rather than a matter of not trusting the students who use the Black House late at night.

“This is going to be my mantra for the year: I have to be concerned about safety,” she said. “I do not think it is a wise use of building space. I don’t understand why you all feel you need to be in here late, late, late at night.”

Weinberg junior Joann Bolude added: “I know you care about the safety of us, but it’s about the safety of the black community.”