The Submergence of Diversity Through Electronic Matchmaking Does "Matching"College Roommates Stop Young People From Learning About Other Cultures? By Thomas V. Millington A recent article published in the New York Times (August 7, 2003) detailed the emerging popularity of a new software program, WebRoomz, that allows incoming college freshmen the chance to select the roommate most compatible with their interests, habits and preferences before arriving on campus. The system has received accolades from residential life administrators at the schools that currently employ this form of electronic matchmaking. While the immediate benefit of this selection process includes easing the tremendous burden placed on residential life administrators who previously had to sort through reams of paperwork to ensure matches between roommates, there are disturbing downsides. One negative effect of giving incoming freshmen the opportunity to select their roommate is that this promotes the notion that the college experience is more of a market economy than an environment where students can broaden their horizons. Another potentially more serious consequence of this electronic personal roommate selection is that diversity is greatly diminished, if not downright excluded. By allowing students to choose their roommate, spontaneous encounters give way to predetermined selection. Diversity by its very nature is a product of spontaneity and randomness. The anticipation of meeting someone you do not know is a key part of engaging diverse people in different situations. However, meeting someone who shares your interests and habits and with whom you have already corresponded before meeting them can be staid, not very innovative and possibly very boring. A simple application of physics may be an appropriate guideline; the law of magnetism states that opposites attract and likes repel. There are many examples of this application in freshman dormitories where roommates that were too similar could not get along. ______________________ There is nothing wrong with pairing a Midwesterner with a student from the Ukraine, or a classical musician with a fan of hip-hop music. ______________________ If the freshman roommate self-selection process becomes standard procedure in college admissions, then a serious threat to diversity is presented and propagated in a subtle, almost surreptitious way. Part of the appeal of the first-year college experience is to encounter new people, different viewpoints and unconventional lifestyles. College is the cynosure of diversity engagement for there is no better place for incoming students to meet people from outside their social circle. College life, especially the first year, is meant to expose students to new cultures and viewpoints. But the WebRoomz roommate selection process will subvert that by permitting students to expand their comfort zones, their cultural umbilical cords, so to speak, to college where they can then thrive in homogenous splendor. So far there has been no concrete evidence that roommate self-selection guarantees long-term academic and social success. For the time being though, there is much to be gained from bringing together two individuals from disparate lifestyles or cultures. There is nothing wrong with pairing a Midwesterner with a student from the Ukraine, or a classical musician with a fan of hip-hop music. By placing both individuals in the same situation, i.e., this would be their first year of college, there is a commonality that they can share and focus on that would facilitate their engagement of each other and their beliefs. The first year of college is where students encounter diversity, sometimes for the very first time. This is where diversity is at its best: breaking down stereotypes and deconstructing misinformed generalizations while at the same time expanding the learning experience of students. It would be negligent indeed to circumvent this process by installing a roommate self-selection mechanism that ultimately benefits no one, and furthermore serves only to undermine the positive aspects of diversity. Tom was born in Geneva, NY and raised in a Bolivian-American household. He grew up speaking Spanish and English, lived in Bolivia and Spain, earned a B.A. from Allegheny College and a M.A. from Indiana State University. For several years Tom taught Spanish at schools in New York and Virginia. He currently works as a Senior Program Officer for Brethren Colleges Abroad, a study abroad provider based in Elizabethtown, PA. His work has taken him to Mexico, China, Spain, Cuba and Ecuador and hecurrently serves on the NAFSA Diversity Committee. You can contact Tom at: tmillington@bcanet.org. This website: Copyright © 2003 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.