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Return to 2024-25 Residence Life Handbook (online) main page
South Plains College has basic rights that govern the special nature of interpersonal relationships in the residence halls. These rights define reasonable expectations that students should have for one another while sharing space in residence halls.
In a group living situation, it is important for students to understand their rights as a resident and their responsibilities to others. The rights to study and sleep are considered primary in the residence hall environment as part of an optimum environment for students to learn and grow. SPC residence halls are rich with diversity. Student values and worldviews may be challenged while living on campus, therefore it is imperative that students learn to recognize, understand and celebrate human differences.
Each resident can expect to have the following rights while living on campus. These rights apply to all students in residence halls. Violating the rights of another student or students may result in disciplinary action and/or reassignment to another room or residence hall.
Residence Hall Student Rights
- The right to sleep during the night undisturbed.
- The right to sleep in one’s room free of noise and distractions during quiet hours.
- The right of access to one’s room and facilities at all times.
- The right to feel secure against physical or emotional harm.
- The right to a clean room and clean common areas.
- The right to have one’s belongings respected.
- The right to have guests in the room when they will not disturb your roommate’s right to sleep or study.
- The right to privacy.
- The right to redress grievances and due process.
Roommate Agreements and Conflicts
Living with roommates isn’t always easy. Sharing a living space may be stressful and conflicts may arise. Sometimes situations that work at the beginning of the year become more difficult as the year goes on. It is perfectly normal to have roommate conflicts.
Many conflicts can be resolved easily with mature and respectful conversation between roommates. Other conflicts may be more difficult to resolve and may require assistance through a formal mediation process. Any student can request a mediation with their hall staff. Additional resources and support may also be found with the Residence Life Leadership Team in the Dean of Students Office. In extreme cases, conflicts may not be able to be resolved resulting in a room change for one or both roommates.
Roommate and Suite-mate Agreements
At the beginning of each year, roommate agreements will be facilitated by hall staff. This will be a time for roommates and/or suite-mates to have a conversation about healthy boundaries and expectations they have for each other. Topics will include noise, visitation, use of personal items, food, cleanliness, etc. Your agreement will be available on file in the Hall Director (HD) Office. It is the responsibility of the student to return the roommate agreement to their hall staff.
Communicating with Your Roommate
If you start to notice that your roommate does not want to talk with you, may get annoyed with you over little things, may leave the room when you are there, you should recognize these as signs of potential roommate issues. If a problem is addressed early, there is a better chance of it being worked out amicably. Most roommate conflicts are the result of miscommunication or, in some cases, a total lack of communication. If you can communicate effectively, it will be much easier to develop a comfortable living environment for yourself and your roommates.
How to address the issue:
- Approach your roommate in private.
- Confirm that this is a good time for both of you to talk. If either of you feels rushed or blindsided the conversation will be less effective.
- Be direct. Discuss the issue with regard to behaviors rather than personality traits. This tactic is less likely to put your roommate on the defensive.
- Be patient. Listen to your roommate and remember that there are two sides to every story. As you are listening, try to put yourself in your roommate’s shoes.
- Each person should be given an opportunity to share their perspective on the roommate relationship and potential areas of tension.
- Revisit your roommate agreement. Which of your guidelines are working and which of them need to be reconsidered?
- Remember that a solution will probably involve each person giving something and getting something. The solution may not be your ideal scenario, but it should be an improvement on the current state of things.
Roommate Mediation
In difficult discussions, such as roommate conflicts, it is very helpful to have an unbiased third party to help mediate the discussion. Our Hall Directors have experience helping roommates find solutions to their conflicts. If you find that you and your roommate are having difficulty resolving your conflict, you should approach your Hall Director to arrange mediation.
We believe that Roommate Mediation is paramount to the learning process and the development of conflict management skills. As such, we require all students involved in a roommate conflict to participate in mediation before changing rooms.
How Mediation Works
- Contact your HD, either by email or in person, to explain the situation and to request mediation.
- Your HD will contact all roommates to find a time that works best for everyone.
- The HD and a co-mediator will begin the conversation. The HD will explain the ground rules; discuss confidentiality and the mediation process.
- The mediators will type up the agreement and will schedule a follow up meeting for two weeks after the original meeting. The follow up meeting will be used to determine if the agreement will be effective in resolving the conflict.
Remember, the HD is not a magician. Some roommate conflicts require a number of mediations before a solution can be found. In other cases, the roommate relationship may not be mended even after an honest attempt at mediation has been made. In those cases, and only in those cases, a room change may be the best answer.
Room Change
Sometimes, roommate conflicts do result in the student deciding to change rooms. Residence Life staff will work with students to find new room accommodations on campus. Students are required to participate in roommate mediation before a room change is approved. This is to ensure that students have the opportunity to intentionally engage in learning conflict management skills and to ensure all roommates have the experience of attempting to compromise and work out a solution, which is an important part of community life.
The role of Residence Life staff is not to determine which roommate is at fault. Rather our role is (a) to assist in the communication which is aimed at resolving conflict and (b) to make logistical arrangements for room changes when necessary. This means that we will work with students who ask to move into a new room. We will not make their roommate move unless this is an agreed upon solution reached during mediation or unless the roommate has been found responsible for violating the roommate agreement or mediation agreement. The College’s conduct and due process system is used to determine responsibility in these matters. If the complaining student desires a roommate change, but does not wish to engage the conduct process and the College is asked to determine who will move, the complaining student will be asked to move to a new room. Adapted from Sarah Lawrence College
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