'Creative Disorder:' Assigning Freshman Roommates

After his half-hour wait in the Business School parking lot, Joe Freshman, neatly clad in Weejuns and Cheenos, eagerly pulls the family's Ford up in front of Wigglesworth. He visits the superintendant, fumbles with the key to his entry, and then--apprehensively--unlocks the door to his suite.

He expects to meet three roommates like himself: with strong interests in chess, passions for classical music, and no desires for "creative disorder." As the door swings open, he is greeted by Van Halen being played at top volume, a floorful of dirty clothing, and two roomies tossing a football.

Scenarios like this are probably common, since freshmen are rarely fixed up with people who write exactly the same things on their applications, according to Senior Freshman Adviser Robert B. Cashion '81. He says that, when he matches roomies, he tries "to put together an interesting mix who can learn from each other."

The fact that Harvard sends pre-frosh a two-page rooming form--in addition to soliciting personal letters from their parents--indicates to most freshmen that the University takes the subject seriously. But, few students feel that the information they provided for housing authorities made much of a difference in their roommate assignments.

"We used to try to figure out why they put us together, then we decided it was random," says Melissa B. Milgram '88, explaining that a casual comparison of forms with her roommate revealed no similarities.

"The applications really weren't too helpful," says Ann M. Griffin '89, adding that "the only type of person I really wouldn't get along with is someone ridiculously into Prince."

Before anyone even reads the rooming forms, the admissions office randomly divides the freshman class into the six regions of Yard and union dorms, says Associate Dean of Freshmen Susan W. Lewis.

Once the forms have been divided into groups of about 250 to 300 students, the six senior freshman advisers spend hours trying to mix and match personalities, Lewis adds.

Every senior adviser has a personal style for matching roommates. "It's more an art than a science," says Cashion.

Four years ago, the senior advisers placed groups of freshmen into areas of the Yard according to the rooming size each requested. But, according to Lewis, "If you try to participate in organizing 1600 students as opposed to 300, it's hard to spend enough time on each one."

Students can be "traded" by senior advisers so freshmen can receive specified numbers of roommates. This system of trading also allows students to be put in specific dorms if they request them, says Cashion.

After the year has started, it is difficult for freshmen to switch roommates, according to Cashion. "Learning to live with people you didn't know is considered one of the educational experiences of college."

Cashion adds that less than five percent of the freshman class asks for changes and a "much smaller" percentage is granted them.

Bentley G. Boyd '89 says he likes the present system. "I described myself as a 'five' and there's creative disorder all over the room."

"If we want to see what's happened recently, we look at the newspapers that cover the floor. If I see a book for a course that I'm taking Iying on the common room floor, I just take it and go to class. If my roommates weren't this way too I'd be in hell."

However, one upperclassman was not as lucky. "One of my roommates was really nice, but she could go into a room I had just cleaned and in ten minutes it was demolished."

She adds that she doesn't find the "creative disorder" rating useful, since one person's three might be another's five.

One Weld freshman describes a classmate she knows who tried to beat the system. "He said, 'I'll take as many roommates as you have as long as they're all girls." But, she adds, "he got a single in Hurlbut."