journal_vol49no2 - 63

The Anatomy of Room Change
Improving approaches that encourage student interaction and help them develop
a broader understanding of diversity should increase multicultural acceptance and
decrease the number of room change requests driven by roommate dissatisfaction
(Hudson, 2018). University-sponsored social media focused on particular residence
halls may be another way for students to connect with peers and to increase their
exposure to others different from them in terms of race, SES, or geography. It would
also provide a forum for resident assistants to introduce themselves to students before
they arrive and thus set the stage for incoming first-year students' success in developing
a network of friends. Developing orientation activities that emphasize roommate
and non-roommate interaction allows students to get to know a wider range of residents
(Brown et al., 2022; Erb et al., 2014). Providing funding in a non-stigmatizing
way-by, for example, offering the same benefit for all students-at the residence hall
level for small spontaneous activities such as going to a movie can help remove barriers
related to SES. Finally, resident assistant training should focus on developing a
multicultural mindset and understanding how different cultural norms may influence
student interaction (e.g., some students are less likely to ask for assistance to work
through conflicts). Though opportunities for influencing residence hall construction
may be rare, housing administrators' influence over the design of newly constructed
or remodeled residence halls should target increasing student interaction over the
efficiency or financial factors that often take precedence (McClure et al., 2020). We
advocate that student affairs professionals understand how design decisions are likely
to impact students' experiences, as they differ from campus to campus across institutional
types (Brown, 2021). For example, increased student interaction between
rooms and floors should result in students developing friendships more easily.
Future research into room change requests should seek to understand the underlying
motivation for the requests and assess how factors such as gender, sexuality,
and religion impact roommate relationships. Such variables were beyond the scope
of institutional data provided in this study, which prevented the development of a
closer understanding of the rationale for students' room change requests. Exploration
into such areas would better differentiate when students are making a move
towards friends in other rooms or halls versus moving away from an adverse living
situation. In addition, such research could clarify specific factors that might underlie
different-race and different-SES roommate conflicts that create an unwelcoming
atmosphere for minoritized students. Further, future research should focus on the
experience that other students minoritized by their gender or sexual orientation have
and seek to understand the relationship between variables in room change requests.
Though opportunities for influencing residence hall construction may be rare,
housing administrators' influence over the design of newly constructed
or remodeled residence halls should target increasing student interaction over
the efficiency or financial factors that often take precedence.
60 The Journal of College and University Student Housing
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