Room Change Chaos

It is November, which means my residents have magically discovered my office and are now requesting their room assignments changed. Every year, I hear the most ridiculous reasons for why the roommate they have had no problems with since August is really Damien Thorn.

Yesterday morning, I was on the phone with a distraught mom, because her daughter's roommate smelled of sweat after lacrosse practice and her kid did not want to approach her. When asked why her child was not willing to have a mediation meeting with her roommate, the mother gasped in horror, "My daughter is a moral Christian and she would never be so rude as to tell another girl she stinks. You need to call her mother. This is a private family matter".

After 45 minutes of circular conversation, I was unsuccessful at convincing the mom that her daughter needs to learn to be assertive and self-advocating. Later in the day, I received a phone call from the father of my 'troubled' resident. As much as his wife was mortified, the father was indignant. Somehow, it was my fault that his angelic offspring was saddled with the worst roommate in the world. In fact, it was so bad, she was unable to study or attend class without constant anxiety. This monster of a roommate was ruining his daughter's dream college experience.

Finally, after another 35 minutes of my life wasted on a pointless phone call, I was free to contact the student, who by the way had never come to see me or her resident advisor about this issue. The resident, "Annie" was upset that her parents had gotten involved. She said her and the roommate, "Brenda" had already worked things out last week; she just forgot to update her parents. However, she wanted to move to the East campus, into a single room facing the lake, on a quieter floor with a male RA if that was available. I told her no...she left with a scowl.