<p><a href=“SORRY%20THAT%20THIS%20IS%20LONG,%20BUT%20I%20FELT%20I%20NEEDED%20TO%20SHARE%20MY%20EXPERIENCE%20WITH%20RUTGERS%20HOUSING”>B</a>**</p>
<p>They don’t take things seriously over there, especially the secretaries who you have to go through in order to meet with the head in charge to request a room switch. Last semester, I had an incident that involved a roommate who thought it was acceptable to bring over her “friend” to basically live there for a week and a half in our dorm. The roommate was a transfer student and a replacement for my other roommate who left to study abroad for the Spring.</p>
<p>She brought over her friend one night and without notifying me let the girl spend the night in the room. I fell asleep when they left the room around 10 and thought the friend was just visiting for the evening. They came back at 3am, I was partially awake, and realized that the girl was going to stay over when I saw them get into bed with one another and getting intimate. The girl stayed there for another day but left before 9pm. I didn’t make a big deal about it because I figured, okay, she only stayed for one night. I didn’t get a chance to talk to my roommate about the situation because I left the next day early to go home for the weekend.</p>
<p>When I returned the following week on Tuesday I noticed the guest was back. It was difficult for me to confront the roommate and her friend about how I felt because her friend was a “threat”. Let’s just say that the guest was a “street” person who had a violent nature to her, which I definitely did not want to encounter. The guest had threatened to beat the crap out of a guy who lived on our floor. The guest also enjoyed watching videos of girls beating each other up on the internet. The guest also got into arguments with my roommate, which almost escalated to violence at one point.</p>
<p>I attempted to notify my RA about this situation and he was barely there. When I did get him, he told me filling out a roommate contract would solve the problem. I was able to get in contact with an RA on another floor and she was understanding and suggested I met with housing because in honesty, I felt uncomfortable with the guest, but I didn’t know how to approach my roommate about it because my roommate and I were never alone to discuss it. I didn’t want to tell my roommate that I didn’t want the guest there anymore when the guest was ALWAYS there in the room. And it was a difficult time for me in terms of focusing in school. I was doing poorly and was stressed out. The situation also coincided with two midterms that I was studying for and I was going through a bit of a depression.</p>
<p>When I met with housing, I basically felt they were ridiculing me and making the situation I was having seem minimal. My father came in to try and straighten everything out. The coordinator suggested that I fill out the contract. I still didn’t think that was enough simply because the guest was still living there. The guest stayed there the whole weekend and was there when I returned back to school on a Tuesday. BOTH my parents decided to come in to meet with housing this time at 8am, and when they arrived there they noticed the secretaries whispering “Oh, it is her again. Looks like she bought the mom”. They acted pretty condescending and had a smug look on their faces when talking to us.</p>
<p>It took my mother to cause a scene in order to allow us to meet with the assistant director. But even at that moment, they told us that we would have to wait until 11am to meet with the director, probably hoping that we would just give up and go away. We stayed in the car for 3 hours and went in ten to 11.</p>
<p>My mother and I finally met with the assistant director and she was able to find vacancy in another dorm for me. This was the week before spring break, so I was able to move in the day after we returned. I remained in the dorm for the last two days that week. It seemed like the guest disappeared by Wednesday morning when I returned back to the room the next day.</p>
<p>I do applaud the assistant director because she helped me out to ensure that I got a room/dorm switch. But for the other people I had to go through just to meet with her, it felt like I was pulling teeth. I felt like they SAW me as being sensitive because I didn’t take the initiative to kick the guest out of the room myself. If only they knew the type of person I was dealing with. In addition, I am not ashamed to say that I am an introvert and kept to myself very often, so for me, fighting or confronting the roommate and her guest was difficult for me to even attempt to do.</p>
<p>The day I was moving out I told my roommate how I finally felt since the girl wasn’t there. I had to lie to her saying that I was moving out to another dorm as a part of a learning community program I was getting involved with in the fall. I think she knew the real reason afterward.</p>
<p>Sorry this was long, to anyone who actually read this, but this is what I had to endure just to get a room switch here at Rutgers. From reports, it seemed like Tyler only notified the RA that morning and then took his life later that evening, so I don’t know how far he got in taking the steps to get a room switch. But if he experienced anything with housing or the RA like I did, I wouldn’t be surprised. And in this case, I would blame Rutgers.</p>