By L. Anne Newell
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 2, 1997

1st-time roommates sign contracts to ease transition

Charles C. Labenz Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshmen Azra Kusturica, above, and Tara Margelofsky get away from the afternoon heat and catch up on their studies in the Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall. Every year the dormitories have to deal with both happy and unhappy roommate matches.

Getting along with a new roommate can be one of the most difficult adjustments for freshmen to make, but a roommate contract may help with some of the inevitable problems, Residence Life administrators said.

"The majority of freshmen have never shared a room with a sibling, let alone a roommate," said Residence Life Director Jim Van Arsdel, citing hand counts at freshmen orientation and national survey results over the past 15 years.

"People have to adjust to new things," he said.

Freshmen roommates Azra Kusturica, studying French, and Tara Margelofski, undeclared, agree.

"Living with someone you don't know is hard at first," said Margelofski, "But I heard stories about best friends living together and having fights where they move out at mid-year," she said.

One viable way to help curb potential conflicts are roommate contracts, which are given out at the first wing meetings of the year, Van Arsdel said.

"The intent is to get roommates to get to know each other, to get their intentions out in the open," he said. "This is not natural for 18-year-olds to do."

However, Van Arsdel said the contract does not guarantee nirvana.

Kusturica and Margelofski were unsure if a contract would be useful.

"I never really thought about having a roommate contract," Kusturica said.

Margelofski said, "If a problem happens, I don't know that someone would go back to the contract and say, 'Hey, you signed this.'

"But it's all common sense. You wouldn't really go through someone's stuff without asking," she said.

Pre-medical technology sophomore Jeremy Martin, who has a new roommate this year, said roommate contracts are helpful at the beginning of the relationship.

"There probably won't be any problems, but they clarify everything ahead of time, so we know how not to piss each other off ," he said, "But we'd probably resolve problems on our own. We wouldn't really go back to the contract."

The use of roommate contracts at UA began about eight or nine years ago, said Van Arsdel.

"A number of us thought it would be a good idea," he said, adding many other universities use them.

Van Arsdel said the contracts are a good idea because they provide structure for new relationships.

Students interested in an alternate roommate contract can turn to a relationship web site labeled as being for "twenty-somethings."

The interactive site by SWOON offers a " No B.S. Roommate Contract" and forums for students to share stories on "dating, mating and relating," said Kristen Sampson, an intern who worked at Kratz & Company, which promotes the site.

The SWOON contract concentrates more on paying bills and sharing cleaning duties than the Residence Life contract, and Kusturica and Margelofski said it may be more appropriate for roommates living off-campus.

Kusturica said the SWOON contract probably would not offer her any more help than the contract she was already given.

But both Kusturica and Margelofski agreed that if they did have a fight, they would sit down and talk it out.

"In a healthy community, each other is the best support," Van Arsdel said.

But there are numerous other places students can go to for support, he said.

"Resident assistants, hall directors and assistant hall directors are all there to help, and that's just in Residence Life," he said.

But Van Arsdel said roommate relationships change.

"In two months roommates may need an opportunity to renegotiate," he said.

But hopefully, by this time, they will have built a good enough relationship to be able to do so, he said.

"Roommate contracts and agreements can be effective, but it is up to the roommates if they actually will be," he said.

The SWOON roommate contract is located at: www.swoon.com.