life& times
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JESSICA DORE
THE
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MAROON
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2007
THE STAKES ARE MYSELF Jamie Broussard, English freshman, and Michelle Chatelain, forensic science freshman, are roommates and now best friends since they were matched together on the new roommatematching program Residential Life is using called Converge.
Yo Dubya, get off your horse I was never much into politics. I always thought they should free Mumia, and the War on Drugs was wasteful, just like this “War on Terror.” But I’m far from a political activist and only as informed as I have time to be. Still, it feels good to rattle off about things that, you know, “grind my gears.” That being said, from what I’ve gathered, Dubya seems to believe with all his little empty tin heart that our influence will be the one thing that finally installs the calm and ends a multi-century war of religious values in Iraq. Because our American values are so superior. Because our systems are so strong, and work so well. In our country we’re all fed and full by dusk and all tucked warm in pillowy beds at night. Here in America, food’s accessible to everyone. Anyone can come up with 99 cents for a junior bacon cheeseburger. Or even 25 cents for a hot dog at the convenience store. I hear heroin’s pretty cheap these days, too. Nope, no problems here. Our president is attentive to the fundamental structure of democracy, and he listens to our problems. He knows what we think about the war in Iraq, and speaks of our representatives: “I fully understand they could try to stop me. But I’ve made my decision. And we’re going forward.” I’ve never felt this way until now. Each day when I read the latest Bushisms or the stories of young 20somethings struggling with posttraumatic stress from the war, I feel a nationwide, full-blown slap in the face. I think about my high school friends being someone’s disturbed dad one day, permanently colored by the moral immaturity of our leaders today. I’m sick of President Bush. He, in addition to local government officials, dropped the ball and watched this city drown. He made a mockery of New Orleans and its people by sitting on his Texas ranch doing nothing while insisting he had his people in place for the storm. According to the Associated Press, when presented with the information about the condition of the levees, Bush expressed nothing but confidence, saying, “We are fully prepared.” And yet it’s difficult to be prepared for a Category 5 storm when you have (reportedly) asked no questions and showed little sign of concern. If Bush was confident in one thing on Aug. 28, it was that he wanted to get back to his golf game or whatever it is that rich, stuffy, high-horse-riding Texans do. In our society it’s become a common impulse to blame others when things go wrong, and it feels pretty damn good. But I can’t understand why Bush is choosing to invest even more lives and money into an idealist, imperialist pipedream while the American citizens of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities are still struggling to survive. But then again, I never was much into politics.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TYLER KAUFMAN / THE MAROON
click & connect By LAUREN LABORDE THE MAROON
It’s a typical room in Buddig Hall, with clothes and shoes haphazardly strewn about the barely-visible floor. But what differentiates this room from others is the clear pathway that divides the room and, seemingly, the people who live inside it. A shirt from one girl’s dirty clothes pile lies in the middle. A freshman who lives here gently nudges it to its owner’s side, reinforcing this invisible boundary. “I’m just going to kick your stuff over ...” she says to herself, as if speaking to her roommate. While only a few feet separate them, the freshman, who wishes to remain anonymous, feels miles apart from her roommate. The girls knew each other prior to starting at Loyola and decided to be roommates. This decision would prove to be a bad one, according to the freshman. “We never tell each other where we’re going or what’s going on in our lives,” she said. This awkward tension is a result of her roommate’s continued unwillingness to adapt to her lifestyle habits. “She won’t compromise,” she said. “If I’m trying to study, she’ll put on the TV or turn up the music really loud.” The culminating tension eventually made this living situation unbearable, ultimately convincing the two to take advantage of room consolidation period and part ways. “There will be times when I’ll feel uncomfortable in my own room,” she said. “We don’t even want to be in the same room with each other anymore.” This separation, according to the freshman, is crucial in preventing this living situation from escalating from bad to terrible. “My sister had a bad roommate her freshman year ... her roommate cut her hair in the middle of the night,” she said. “That’s one of my fears.”
Incoming freshmen in previous school years were faced with limited options in selecting roommates — they could either be assigned one based on the few questions asked on the residence hall contract, or live with a friend or acquaintance. But the latter option doesn’t always work out. “Some people will have known each other for their whole lives but realize that they make better friends than roommates,” said Michelle Andrews, associate director for Residential Services. With seemingly no options left for those who are wary of being matched with a stranger, Loyola Residential Life implemented new technology to help facilitate finding a roommate. This year’s freshman class is the first to use Converge, a roommate selection database that allows freshmen to find other incoming students with similar lifestyle habits and interests. “We wanted to give students more say-so in their housing and living arrangements,” said Cephas Archie, assistant director for Residential Education and Judicial Affairs, on Residential Life’s choice to use the software in housing selection. On Converge, students fill out an extensive personality profile, asking questions about everything from “smoking or non-smoking” preference to “lifestyle, socialization and academic traits,” according to the database’s homepage. Students are also asked about their interest in music, hobbies and extracurricular activities. The questions, according to Andrews, are “a lot deeper than those on the (housing) contract,” which only asks about neatness, room environment, smoking preference and musical taste. After completing the survey, the software generates a list of compatible students, in order of their compatibility. From there, students can “choose, or not choose, to contact those people,” said Andrews. The software can also be used by
transfer students, graduate and law students and for students who want to change or consolidate their rooms. “This is helpful for returning students who don’t feel compatible with their roommates,” said Archie. “They can actually get to know (other people looking to change or consolidate) and not just see them as a vacant space.” “My mom said she wishes they had something like this for me to find guys ... because I found the perfect match,” says chemistry freshman Michelle Chatelain, one student who can attest to Converge’s ability to match up compatible roommates. “I think out of everyone on the floor, we probably get along the best,” she said of her and her roommate. Converge’s success, according to Chatelain, can be attributed to its emphasis on lifestyle habits rather than interests. “The survey asks more lifestyle questions, and they kind of downplay (interests),” she said. “(Similar lifestyle habits) are more important than what TV shows you watch.” “Plus, if you have all the same interests, you might spend all your time together, so it’s inevitable that you’ll fight.” Music industry studies freshman Blake Durham also met his roommate on Converge, but claims that his roommate wasn’t on the top of his compatibility list. “He wasn’t the first result. I mostly messaged him because we had similar interest in music,” he said. “We didn’t even talk much through Converge, but we get along great. It worked out because both of us are pretty easy-going.” While Converge wasn’t the main factor in him and his roommate’s peaceful cohabitation, Durham is still glad he used the software. “I think it helped out,” he said. “I prefer to use Converge to just randomly rooming with someone.” Chatelain said she benefited from
The new roommate-matching program Converge seeks to increase compatability using Converge, which has already saved her the hassle of finding a roommate for next semester. “I’m really glad they had that,” she said. “We’re going to room together next year, too.” Since it is a new addition to the housing selection process, Converge has still yet to completely catch on with students. “We just started using it in the summer, so not everyone’s used it yet,” said Andrews. “Plus, it’s by choice.” But some students who chose not to use the software still managed to end up in harmonious living situations. “It seemed kind of weird,” said music education freshman Ainsley Matich on her choice not to use Converge. “(It was) kind of like a dating service,” chimed in her roommate, music industry studies freshman Mary Petro. The two girls finish each other’s sentences and are “best friends” at Loyola, according to Matich, but were assigned based on the Residence Hall Contract. Why they were assigned as roommates remains a mystery to them. “We’re completely opposite,” said Petro. “I brought, like, 28 pairs of shoes (to school), and she brought three.” Opposites attract in this case, but not everyone is as lucky. “Some people are opposites, and it doesn’t work out,” said Matich. With roommate compatibility seemingly a matter of luck in some cases, is software like Converge even necessary? Maybe not always, but according to Archie, it’s certainly beneficial. “It’s a truly new software that we want to take advantage of for the benefit of our students. It’s an addition to offer further opportunity,” he said. “We’re going to continue using it for the next incoming class.” Lauren Laborde can be reached at lalabord@loyno.edu.