Roommates Corey Gallup (left) and Matthew Sourwine work side by side in their shared room in Onondaga Hall. Some roommates become best friends, sharing interests and activities, while others can’t wait to end their relationship.

Photo by Jim Trask, ‘09

Students come to college from all different walks of life: the country, the suburbs, the city; not knowing what to expect. When students start college, it is then that they must in some way establish themselves. It is in college that they will not only get an academic education, but also a look at reality.

When students live on campus, they learn about themselves, as well as others. They learn things that cannot be taught in a class room, but rather only through personal experience. One of the most influential characters to a student is their roommate. Roommates have such an impact on one another, that sometimes it cannot even be recognized. Our dorm rooms become our homes. Our fellow residents are our neighbors. These people can become our friends and families or our enemies. They are what we make them to be.

Morrisville State College houses seventeen hundred students, in twelve different dorm buildings. Students can range from 18 to 50. Students are placed together based on the results of an online preference form that has questions about students’ sleep habits, study habits, and lifestyle.

When asked, Who tends to have more problems with roommates: girls or guys? The Director of Residence Life, Armanda King responded with laughter, “Girls for sure, oh my gosh!” Asked why she thought that was so the Director continued saying, “I don’t really know if I can pin point one thing. Guys just tend to let more things roll off their backs than girls do. Like some of the smaller things that can build up for girls, and get to the point where they’ve had it, and then there’s an all out screaming match, guys just, they kind of let more go”.

King then explained what residence life does to hopefully help residences deal with issues, rather than moving. “Housing freeze is meant to give each other a chance. We’ve found that if we really sit down with the students and give them time to work out their differences; usually they can work them out. All too often people don’t realize their roommate doesn’t like them because they leave the light on, or the TV on, it’s because they don’t talk about it. We can’t read each other’s minds, and what’s good for me might not be good for you, but I might not know that”.

Even though residence life tries to work with the residences in hopes that problems can be fixed, there are students who just want singles. King said that singles are becoming more of a demand than ever. “I find especially in the last two years it’s more of an expectation, not even a request.”

As a result of the demand for singles, Residence Life has decided to convert East Hall into a singles dorm next fall. Along with East there will be some dorms that have floors of just single rooms. When asked if the price of living on campus is going to increase, King with no hesitation replied by saying that the cost of housing goes up every year. A regular double room is two thousand one hundred ten dollars and a single would be an additional four hundred twenty five dollars per semester.

Terrell Brooks 09, Electrical Engineering student, said he has been with the same roommate, Robby MacBlane since fall of ‘06. Terrel said that he felt they get along because they have a lot of the same interests. Residence life actually paired Terrel and Robby together and they are in the same major.

Nade’ge Meris a Restaurant Management freshman ‘09, from Brooklyn said she gets along with her current roommate somewhat. However she does consider the roommate to be dirty and to bring a “whole new meaning to the word slob.”  Nade’ge said that she became roommates because she did not get along with her old one and that she, “got stuck” with her current roommate.

Automotive major Charles Mann gets along with his roommate well enough that they play pranks on one another. Charles thinks that it helps that they have the same interests.

Rarely is there an easy answer, and Armanda King hit the nail on the head when she said, “the reality is, you’re never going to find the perfect roommate so if you just keep hopping around your gonna have a miserable experience. It is work, it’s not going to be easy”.