Colleges Offering Privacy

I read this article in the New York Times with quite a bit of interest. Students are now demanding more privacy. Simply put: they don’t want to share a walk-in closet with a perfect stranger.

I sympathize. I spent six years in pharmacy school, and had a roommate for about a semester and two weeks. I had private rooms the rest of the way through. I was either in pharmacy school or pre-pharmacy, and when I needed to study, I needed to study. I was also a lot to have to put up with due to my unusual habits. I was often up at 5 or 6 AM. This alone made me an undesirable roommate at Ole Miss. In fact, I’m even up by 7 or 8 AM now even though I work second shift.

I guess it can cause isolation and selfishness. I must admit that I would likely find married life difficult since I have rarely shared a living space. However, I really appreciated the privacy when I was in a place where no one around had much in common with me.