Some Residence Life Issues

I’ll start of this week’s post with some up-dates:

Two students were shot on the campus of Delaware State University last Friday (September 21^st) in the early morning. The campus was immediately “closed” and resident students were asked to stay in their rooms as the shooter(s) remained at large. Classes were cancelled for Friday and Saturday. The following appeared on the InsideHigerEd.com website on Monday:

“Delaware State University plans to be open, with a normal class schedule today. The university called off all classes Friday and Saturday, and ordered students to stay in their dormitory rooms after the shootings of two students early Friday morning. The News Journal reported that authorities are investigating the possibility that geography-based rivalries among students (the two who were shot are from Washington) may have played a role in the shootings.”

I will continue to monitor this shooting to see how security features, put in place after the Virginia Tech shootings, were implemented.

In news closer to home, two men accused of the rapes in the residence at York University have been arrested. As suspected, the men have a connection to the university, with at least a general knowledge of its security features. The two suspects are looking for bail – an unlikely outcome if you ask me.

The Monday after the sexual assaults at York, a “journalist” from the local television station followed a student into a McMaster residence before the door could shut (a stunt called “tailgating”). The cameraman then proceeded to the third floor and took video to show viewers “how easy it is”. Needless to say the university was not impressed. This was the second time in a week that the station was accused of creating news. Liberal Party spokesman, Ben Chin, accused the station of “micing” a local developer as he confronted the Premier during a campaign stop. It should also be noted that the station has recently gone to the E! format where entertainment is king. It sounds like they are also trying to create their own news.

In its October 1^st edition, Macleans magazine’s Nancy MacDonald has the article “A Lock Cause” which deals with the York rapes and has quotes from several students (mostly from UBC) as well as administrators. I found two paragraphs very revealing and am reprinting here (from the on-line version): “There are posters up, but I don’t know what they say; I haven’t read them,” says Stephanie Parisotto, in her second year at UBC. “It’s one of those things you hear all the time,” admits Jessica, an 18-year-old UBC student from Calgary. “I’m like: ‘Yeah, yeah.’ ” Jessica never locks up — even before going to sleep. “It doesn’t cross my mind to lock the door; I know the people on my floor.” That’s a risk Alex Ivey, 19, says she would never take. “But some kids forget,” Ivey says. “They’ve been out drinking; they walk in, close the door, and go to sleep.” To Alex, a first-year UBC student who asked that her last name not be used, the open door policy is about comfort: “It’s wanting to treat res like your home, and your floor mates like your friends.” After class, Alex routinely props her own door open, inviting her floor mates to stop by. But even comfort has a limit. She always locks up before bed.

The troubling part of the quotes is that they would be repeated verbatim at every university in the country. The fact is that residents initially do not know their floor mates – particularly during move-in or during Welcome Week. Secondly, the naïveté of the students is alarming. Just because a person is a floor mate doesn’t mean that he or she wouldn’t steal from you (or worse). And finally, propping doors open is just plain illegal most of the time. Residence doors frequently have closers on them for fire safety reasons. Doors that open into hallways simply cannot be propped open. No one can predict when a fire will break out. There have been plenty of dormitory fires and those of us in the student housing business will always put students’ safety and security ahead of perceived issues of community.

I will write about Facebook in a future posting but an article by Erin Millar in the October 1^st Macleans also contained some troubling notions regarding a new use of this web tool. The article deals with the potential for using Facebook as a means of screening roommates. Although this idea has some potential for good, the downside is too scary to think about. The article has a good balance of pro and con but I was struck by this paragraph:

“But sometimes parents’ concerns turn out to be legitimate. Terry Calhoun, director of communications and publications for the Michigan-based Society for College and University Planning, described a case where a parent requested a switch after stumbling across troubling information about his child’s future roommate. “This was not a case of religious or racial bias, however,” Calhoun wrote. “It was more serious than that. It was the kind of stuff that, in the wake of the Virginia Tech killings, sends shudders though parents’ and administrators’ bodies.” The page in question was, as Calhoun’s colleague put it, “some sort of paean to automatic weapons, explosives, violence and destruction.”

Frankly I can see both sides of this concern. What parent would want their son or daughter paired with a psychopath? But that begs a more realistic situation. What about a potential room-mate with a disability or a mental health issue, for example? Would we allow students to decline these room-mates? It is not uncommon these days for young students (mostly female but some males as well) to “self harm” or literally cut themselves. Some of these students would even put pictures of themselves or blogs on social networking websites. What should happen if a student discovers that a potential room-mate is a “cutter”? On the other hand, what should housing personnel do when one of two room-mates who have been randomly put together practices self-harm? What about the feelings of the other room-mate who doesn’t want to witness it or doesn’t want the responsibility of “looking after” his or her room mate? As a parent I’m not sure about that one either.

The article goes on to question whether or not universities would rescind offers made to students if they found out through Facebook that an applicant was deviant and, shouldn’t universities be “routinely researching applicants this way?” The answer is No! McMaster University would make about 20,000 offers of admission in a given year – this suggestion is implausible. The other thing to note is that students tend to inflate things that they write about. I tell students all the time that I will not be trolling on Facebook! They seem to appreciate that. The last sentence of Erin Millar’s article sums it up best from a student’s point of view: “just don’t look”.

Another item that I will post on in the future is text book prices. It seems that this issue is reaching a head in the state of California where ccompeting bills to deal with student complaints about textbook prices arrived simultaneously on the governor’s desk, as the Los Angeles Times reported. Both bills would require more disclosure about changes made from one edition to another, but one bill (backed by student groups) would require more than the other (backed by publishers).

There is no doubt that text book prices are increasing. The culprits are publishers who bring out new editions too frequently and also professors who don’t always look for less expensive alternatives. Students though don’t understand the notions of intellectual property or copyright. It is simply illegal to post large sections of published material on-line. Professors though can post their own notes and even links to other websites containing information. There will be a round-table in Toronto on November 21^st to 23^rd involving book publishers, book store operators and student unions. As I said above, more on this later.