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Policies and Procedures
Roommate Relationships
Resident students are expected to be committed to creating strong and healthy
relationships with their roommates based on respect and civility.
Open communication is an integral part of creating such successful
relationships. More often than not,
roommate conflicts occur due to a lack of communication between those involved
and the biggest mistake that roommates can make is not discussing a problem as
soon as it develops.
For the most part, roommates are able to deal with any issues that
arise in their room but in some cases, students who share a room are
not able to resolve their issues independently. When this occurs,
roommates are urged to seek the assistance of their in-hall residential staff
members so the problems do not continue for an extended amount of time.
Students experiencing conflict with their roommate have a variety of
options to choose from in order to resolve their situation.
These options include:
- A conversation between roommates facilitated by their Resident Director (RD) or
Resident Assistant (RA) to help create a roommate contract or agreement.
Examples of what roommates would discuss when creating this agreement
are: communication styles, quiet/study/sleep time, guests, borrowing/lending
personal items, TV/stereo usage and other topics pertaining to the living
environment.
- Participating in a mutual room swap with another student of the same gender and
class year.
- Relocation to another space in an available multiple-occupancy room on campus.
- Formal mediation between all parties involved facilitated by a member of the central
ORLL staff.
- Allow the Residential Judicial Board to hear the facts of the roommate conflict
and decide how to resolve it most effectively.
It is an expectation that roommates will work together to decide upon the best
possible option to resolve the conflict. It is also expected that roommates will
fully cooperate with the attempts from the ORLL or in-hall residential staff to
assist in resolving the conflict.
The ORLL will not decide the outcome of a roommate conflict unless one of
the roommates is in violation of a residential/university policy or is
endangering the safety and well-being of their roommate(s).
For more information pertaining to roommate conflict resolution within
the residence halls, please contact a member of your in-hall residential staff
or ORLL at 617-627-3248.
Last updated September 2011
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