Jumping to Conclusions

An article in USA Today (dated 8/8/07) dealt with the pending college term and the influx of freshmen who are being assigned dormitory rooms for the coming year.

The Internet addition of Facebook and other biographical tools on the computer is making for some interesting rooming dilemmas on college campuses.

It seems as though parents have been perusing the Facebook pages to learn about their child's pending roommate. And sometimes they aren't happy. Concerns include sexual preference, body art, the potential to party, and the age-old issues of race and religion.

Not being a parent, I don't suppose I can fully understand the concern. But, as a long-time educator I do know that younger generations seem to be more tolerant of personal differences than perhaps the older generations.

The acknowledgement of who your pending roommate is has made the furnishing of a college dormitory room so much easier than in my day. I have long encouraged high school seniors to make sure to contact the roommate and share in the responsibility of bringing necessary household items--televisions, dvd/vcr, refrigerators, microwaves, stereos and telephones. There is just no need in duplicating those items.

It seems as though some colleges, under a barrage of requests for a change in room assignments, have taken a hard line and have refused to change these assignments. The possibilities of changing rooms comes during the school year, but not before a period of time where students can, if they must, make adjustments to "tolerate" the new roommate regardless of their lifestyles or tendencies.

And, as previously noted, the younger generation seems to be more accommodating than their parents.

Case in point. In bygone days, when I entered college in the fall of 1968, you arrived on campus; checked in and received your room assignment; lugged your personal items to that room (elevators were not always available to students, especially on a small campus); moved into your room; and if you were lucky, met your roommate before it was time to go to bed.

We had a "friendly moving day" on the calender several weeks into the first semester. Still, I knew of very few students who took advantage of that opportunity.

My first roommate was an old country boy and I was the city kid. We had very little in common. Still, we got along fine, occasionally had a meal together, and I even told him I was willing to room with him the next year. He, however, moved off campus with several students who were in his field of study.

That set the stage for my second roommate who has been a longtime friend and one who I have a great deal of respect for. We roomed together during my sophomore year (his junior) and again when I did student teaching and he was already employed. My third roommate sought me out because I was living in the dorm's only suite of rooms (a perk for being president of the dorm). And, I was receptive because he had a refrigerator (an unheard of dormitory item at that time) because he was diabetic. My final roommate was an acquaintance who wound up as my roomie because I was the dorm office manager and he was a proctor. It was a convenient arrangement though we had little in common. Still, we had no issues with each other and had a very workable living arrangement.

Thus, I guess its safe to say that I only had one roommate who was really on the same social plane as me. Still, I never, ever thought of using "friendly moving day."

My suspicion is that most students today can ADAPT to their roommates and I believe they should be given the chance to ADAPT to something different. I didn't say to ADOPT a different lifestyle, but to ADAPT to the presence of a different lifestyle in their presence. After all, they will need to do that the rest of their lives.