Collegiate Times

An overwhelming feat made a little less so with the assistance of an extensive survey sent to each student the summer before move-in. The survey includes questions regarding sleep habits, messiness and what has become one of the most important aspects of roommate preferences — smoking.
Although all of the dorms on campus are smoke-free, living in a small space with a smoker can still make a huge difference. Recognizing this, Belcher and the housing staff have attempted to accommodate every student’s wishes from the self-proclaimed “social smoker” to the vocal “Another Non-Smoking Hokie” T-shirt wearer.

COLLEGIATE TIMES: How does the housing department at Tech pair roommates?
KEN BELCHER: We actually are first matching by the mutual roommate requests that students make based on the individual forms that are sent in. After that, we look to place our returning on-campus students in the building and room that they prefer as well as considering each one’s additional requests, such as roommate smoking preferences. From there we attempt to maximize our space as well as we can.
Considering freshmen are matched on many levels, we do consider that there is still a measure that shows a direct correlation of smoking preference to roommate happiness. Also, in Pritchard Hall this year we looked at academic majors and tried to sort of cluster like-majors in groups as best we could. It was kind of an experiment for us to see how that works out. 

CT: How does smoking preference come into play?
BELCHER: Smoking preferences (are treated) just as everything on our contract. We cannot make a guarantee, and also we have to assume the student is telling the truth. We can never be sure that it’s the student and not the parent filling out the contract. A lot of parents wanted to describe the perfect student for us (who) goes to bed early, makes good grades, is very neat and organized. ... I had one mother tell me, “My student’s really messy, so I really wanted a clean roommate so maybe he could influence my son.”
While we’re always looking for that perfect set of questions that lead to roommate happiness, nationally there still hasn’t been one developed. However, we have found that smoking preference has been one of the most important, especially if you’re the person that doesn’t like the smell of cigarette smoke. Having that person in your space really makes a difference.

CT: What percentage for this incoming freshmen class listed themselves as a smoker?
BELCHER: Right off-hand I don’t know an exact number, but I do know that it was a vast majority (of nonsmokers). If I had to make a guess right now, I’d say that only less than 1 to 2 percent listed themselves as smokers at all, which is a very small number. Often a smoker will list themselves as a non-smoker because they don’t want a “heavy” smoker as a roommate. It also depends on how you define a “smoker.” A lot of human
dynamics on how people answer sometimes.  

CT: What difference does it make if your roommate is a smoker, considering all dorms are non-smoking?
BELCHER: It’s really just the smell on clothes and that sort of thing. I don’t know that there are any psychological differences, so I’d say it’s mostly about the smell on clothing and in the room that is the major issues that hits roommates.

CT: How long have the residence halls been smoke-free and how has that made a difference?
BELCHER: The policy was approved in March 2003. Before it was an option on questionnaire, which hall to be in. Going smoke-free in residence halls has really lowered the number of dissatisfied students.

CT: How do you deal with unsatisfied students or unsatisfied pairs?
BELCHER: Well, the first thing that we encourage them to do is to have a one-on-one conversation with each other. Next, we’ll do a roommate discussion with a resident advisor, and if they have conflicts, another RA can assist. There’s always an option of a room change in the system if space is available. I believe we have a very liberal room change policy — if
there’s space, and you’re eligible, you can go ahead with the process of a room change. We still encourage going through all the steps because sometimes a conversation can solve it. 

CT: Are there any legal concerns involved with the process of
designing the roommate questionnaire?
BELCHER: No, not as far as occupancy signing contracts go. It’s a preference, not a guarantee. Students need to keep in mind that if some say they are not a smoker then become a smoker, lives change. Also, the definition of a smoker is subjective: a pack a day or one (to) two every so often? The only legal concern really is that we don’t allow smoking in the dorms. So whether or not (you’re a) “smoker,” if you decide to smoke in dorms, it’s not cool. You’re going to get a judicial for that.