Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 25

students is supported by empirical
studies linking social functioning
to mental health and adjustment
to college life." And roommate
relationships in particular need a
solid foundation built on effective
communication and trust.
Another twist in this situation
is that the life cycle of a roommate
relationship starts before students even
arrive on campus. Once roommate
assignments are transmitted, most
people instantly turn to Facebook

a Facebook platform, but it brings
together Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
educational majors (from the specific
institution), and lifestyle questions
as a way to find the right roommate
match. Castellucci believes their
service can help with overall resident
satisfaction within their rooms and
with on-campus housing in general.
He believes that even if institutions
decide not to use RoomSync, the
benefits of allowing students to selfselect a roommate far outweigh those

University Indianapolis' roommate
agreement form. At the program the
housing staff discussed their efforts
of tying policy with action items
and how it had a positive impact on
their roommate satisfaction scores."
Kogan pulled together institutionspecific conduct and EBI survey data
from the 2014-15 academic year and
found the items that correlated with
the highest number of responsible
conduct violations and issues that
students reported as areas of low

MOST OF OUR BAD CONFLICTS WENT BACK MONTHS AND MONTHS TO A SINGLE
ISSUE THAT SPIRALED OUT OF HAND DUE TO LACK OF COMMUNICATION.
to check out their new living mate.
And when they decide that they can't
possibly live with this person pictured
on the screen, they call housing and
residence life offices requesting room
changes immediately. How do housing
and res life professionals intervene
and get these relationships on track?
Some believe that reducing (if
not almost eliminating) roommate
conflicts starts with a roommate selfselection process. Rob Castellucci,
president and CEO of RoomSync,
believes in the power of choice.
The company's core belief is that
empowering roommate choice
leads to happier people who are
more willing to work through their
differences. "From the research [we]
conducted, when a resident selfselects a roommate it proves to be a
critical method for success. Typically
students who self-select will more than
likely stay with that roommate," he
says. Castellucci admits that there is
no perfect method to truly eliminate
conflict, but when the choice to live
with a certain person is in your own
hands, you cannot be that upset with
the housing staff if issues arise. The
RoomSync methodology runs off

of randomly matching people based on
their perceived compatibility.
Some housing and residence life
departments still believe that faceto-face communication and putting
pen to paper is the best method to
get roommate relationships started
on the right foot. The University of
West Georgia (UWG) in Carrollton
is one of the many institutions still
using this methodology to spark
roommate conversations with the aid
of the community RAs. This year the
residence life staff revamped their
forms to closely tie the sections of
the agreement to the UWG code of
conduct. For example, the guest policy
is clearly stated in the guest section
of the agreement, which provides
roommates with a framework to
best decide and then communicate
their room-specific guest visitation
guidelines, while staying within the
confines of the policy. Nicole Kogan,
residential conduct coordinator for
housing and residence life at UWG,
was the driving force behind the
change after being inspired by a
program at the ACUHO-I Annual
Conference. "The form was modeled
after Indiana University-Purdue

satisfaction and decided to target those
on the form. This targeted action
plan became the blueprint for the
new agreement forms. "These items
were listed because they impacted our
students and their overall satisfaction
on campus the most, and increasing
residential student satisfaction is one
of our departmental goals," Kogan
explains.
Roommate relationships can be
shaped before classes begin. Stacy
Oliver-Sikorski, associate director of
residence life for student success at
Lake Forest College in Illinois, says
that their students fill out roommate
agreement forms soon after they
arrive on campus. "First-year students
are required to do it the first week
they are on campus during their fall
orientation. They sit down together
and fill out the form via Roompact
(an online software program). If
students want their RA present during
the conversation, they can be, but it
is not required. The residence life
staff populate the Roompact system
with the non-negotiable information
like quiet hours and such. Then
each student fills out and signs the
agreement, and if they have a conflict

JANUARY + FEBRUARY 2016

25



Talking Stick - January/February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - January/February 2016

Talking Stick - January/February 2016
Contents
Vision
Just In
Calendar
Your ACUHO-I
Transitions
Res Life
Assessment
Conduct
Match Game
Basic Training
Conversations
First Takes
Around Student Affairs
New Members
Snapshot
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Intro
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Talking Stick - January/February 2016
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Cover2
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 1
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 2
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 3
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Contents
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 5
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 6
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 7
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Vision
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 9
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Just In
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 11
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 12
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 13
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 14
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 15
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 16
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 17
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Calendar
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 19
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Your ACUHO-I
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 21
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Transitions
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 23
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Res Life
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - BC1
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - BC2
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 25
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 26
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 27
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Assessment
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 29
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 30
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 31
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Conduct
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 33
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 34
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 35
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Match Game
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 37
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 38
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 39
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 40
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 41
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 42
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 43
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 44
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 45
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 46
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 47
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Basic Training
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 49
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 50
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 51
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 52
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 53
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 54
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 55
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Conversations
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 57
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 58
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 59
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - First Takes
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Around Student Affairs
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - 62
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - New Members
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Snapshot
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Cover3
Talking Stick - January/February 2016 - Cover4
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