All Hartwick first-year students, sophomores, and juniors must live in College residence facilities unless they have written approval to live off campus from the Associate Director of Housing. Area coordinators and Resident Directors are responsible for the overall administration of these halls. Resident advisor positions are filled by upperclass students who have been chosen because of their leadership ability. They receive special training in areas such as community building, conflict resolution, and crisis intervention.
Students fill out a preference form to help match students with similar habits and tastes.
As a rule, we do not make room changes during the year unless efforts to work things through have been unsuccessful. During the first two weeks of each semester, no room changes are made, so that we can assess who is here and who is not. If, after the first two weeks, students are experiencing difficulty in establishing their roommate relationship, professional staff will mediate a discussion about the problems and possible solutions. We believe that a large part of our responsibility as educators is to help students learn to communicate effectively and to learn to appreciate people different from themselves. Seniors may request off-campus housing, but must meet advertised deadlines.