So my daughter started college today. Surprise! Her room-mate is a rabid republican...

[PassingFair]

Spouting off against the "democrat agenda".

:eyes:

My poor baby!

[Iggo]

1. Laws yes!

Yer baby's education has hit the ground runnin!

[redwitch]

2. College Housing is no competition for eharmony apparently.

Your poor daughter!

[PassingFair]

3. She also texted me that her math teacher talked about Jesus

for almost an hour.

I thought I was sending her to a liberal arts
college!

:scared:

[redwitch]

5. Math course? Loaves and fishes?

Where is she going to school?????

[PassingFair]

7. Northern Michigan...

in da UP..

[carlyhippy]

13. My kid has had professors with all kinds of different personalities ha

Some were young, liberal and taught very well. Some were very proper and prim, but overall so far it's been a good experience.

[gratuitous]

4. Well, your daughter's roommate is in college

It's just possible that she will learn something.

[PassingFair]

6. Weird...because the kid is in foster care...

and has everything paid for, including
her auto insurance, by the "state".

Who's zoomin' who?

[hyphenate]

8. It shouldn't matter too much

about the roommate. The roomie might make a lot of male friends and stay out late every night.

But first off, is there a way for her to switch rooms with someone else? If she can, that would be the first thing to try.

But if that doesn't work, she should make it clear that she's not interested in hearing the roommate spouting off about the "democratic agenda" because she has her own set of values, and to tell ber roommate to just shut up.

As for the professor, what kind of class was it? Reporting that professor to the dean or whoever is in charge of teachers might shut him up. Even better, if you have them keep your identity in confidence. Unfortunately, if it's a philosophy class, it won't work, but if it's a science or math class, you can point out the whole "separation of church and state" stuff.

Noticed it was a math teacher. That should definitely reported or questioned.

[PassingFair]

10. She texted that the guy looks like he's in his 80's...

She couldn't talk...but I'm sure I'll
hear all about it tonight.

First day, and she texts...."I'm bored".

[tigereye]

33. ah, that's hilarious!

or is it... :rofl:

[semillama]

43. Ha! Wait until she's snowed in!

Then she'll be bored!


I'm from Hancock, and got my MS at Michigan Tech, so I know a little about Marquette and NMU. If your daughter is the outdoors type, she shouldn't be bored for long, and if she isn't, it's probably best to encourage her to become one (and get her cross-country skis for christmas!). Hiking is great, especially during color season. If she has a car, a road trip to the Keewenaw Peninsula is a must.

There are some great local musicians up there, though - tell her to keep an eye out for performances by Rusty Borealis, Sycamore Smith and Erik Koskinen. Every now and then, a truly awesome reggae band from LA comes through, Cry on Cue (they used to be based out of Houghton for a few years). They are not to be missed. Up Front And Company is a great place to catch live music.

[LynneSin]

9. I'd ask for a new room

I remember my first roommate my freshman year - what a nightmare. I went to college back when you were still allowed to smoke in the dorms but you could request for a non-smoking roommate, which I did. I get there and my roommate seems ok but then after a few hours she lights up a cigarette in our room. Taken aback I'm like "Dude, you were suppose to be a non-smoking roommate, what's up?". Here, her parents were watching her when she was filling out her roommate application and didn't have the balls to say "Btw, I'm 18 and I want to be a smoker" so she requested a non-smoking roommate. She figured it was college and her roomie would think she was so cool that said roomie wouldn't give a shit if she smoked.

One thing about college is usually a few freshman will drop out after a few weeks and hopefully she can find an opening with either a non-republican or someone not political active. Usually the rooming people expect roommate issues and will allow swaps done as needed to save the headache.

BTW, the dean of women forced the girl to move down 2 flights into a room with another smoker after 4 weeks. Fortunately someone had dropped out and left an opening in a room with another smoker. I did try to work with the girl on the issue but her idea of not smoking in the room was sitting right outside our room and smoking. The move also forced her to confess to her parents she was a smoker and the girl never spoke to me again because of that. Hey, if you lie then you deal with the fall out.

[PassingFair]

11. She doesn't want to make waves...or enemies.

I hope she gets her tuchus over to the Democratic Club
and finds an alternative!

[LynneSin]

15. Well I had no choice with my issue but your daughter could do it in a nice manner

I mean let's face it - the folks that put together freshman roommates have no fricking clue. If your daughter happened to find a room opening and was friendly with that girl - then she should try to do the switch. Colleges expect this with their freshman.

I went to college when Reagan was HUGH!!! ( :eyes: ), so it was so nice to find a democrat on my floor. Her parents were big in the local dem parties in Harrisburg. Turns out there was no democratic party organization at our college and this girl was the one who started it (I was elected corresponding secretary).

[Fire Walk With Me]

45. Give her a Vuvuzela. EVERYONE appreciates and bonds to that special sound.

[carlyhippy]

12. college is quite an interesting place for our young scholars

My kid tried to like her roommate but never did care for her. Maybe have them talk to the RA and see if she can be moved. On the other hand, maybe your daughter staying can help the roomate see another point of view. She may have republican parents and was brought up this way and has not heard any other views. College is a time to expand one's mind, see other views and opinions.

[ChoralScholar]

20. Hey - I thought I was a conservative when I started college....

so.. who knows?!?

[Chan790]

21. I was a college Republican...

and a national leadership member of College Right To Life. (Those people are truly fucking crazy. Let's just say I was never surprised by the teabaggers. They've existed in the shadows for a while.)

People change. I volunteer for NARAL, letter-write for Amnesty and ACLU and am a committed leftist ten years later.

The plus side is that I learned the RW's game and was being groomed for it...the negative is that too many on the left would rather lose than play Rovian dirty pool to win. I'd rather win.

[tigereye]

34. you are the last person I expected to say that!

That's something... glad you came over from the dark-side!


:thumbsup:

[HopeHoops]

14. She should leave her computer logged in to DU and turn off the screen saver.

[foxfeet]

16. A pillow over the face during the night works wonders with snoring

and other things. :P

(Just kidding!)

[quakerboy]

17. That happened to me.

I thought I was getting a tall self sufficient guy without much of an opinion on anything. (based on a brief phone conversation, my requests on the questionare, and a picture)

When I showed up I had a midget skinhead mommas boy. Ok, not really skinhead, but he showed up with a shaved head, and everyone had their concerns at first. He was a rightie (as per his current Facebook, a Libertarian Teaparty member). And technically not a midget, though he was short. Then again, it were a christian school, so the proportion of righties was a bit above average. He wasnt a horrible roommate, mostly. He was and is kinda a dick though. Went home frequently so he could bang various girls he knew and drink(both against school code, it were a christian school after all). And when Momma moved down south, guess who dropped school to move down south? He was forever asking others to take his student ID to Chapel so that he could sleep in and still get the required chapel credits each semester.

In reflection, its possible that he, more than any other particular individual, showed me the dichotomy of people, and particularly people with a rigid belief structure that is very non permissive. Verbally, in an argument, its all about purity and doing the right thing always. In practice, its about not getting caught.

[Bucky]

18. If she's truly rapid, you can have her put down.

Better now than after November, trust me. They don't winter well.

[LisaM]

19. Isn't that part of what college is about?

Maybe she can spout some of the "Democrat Agenda" and teach her roomie a few things.

You go to college to experience some of this diversity.

That said, Northern is a state school. She should not be getting the Jesus agenda. I think you have more to complain about there; the roommate issue, well, it might sift itself out, but I don't think you necessarily have the right to request a roommate with the same political views.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Oh, boy...

My first college roommate was a religious fundie who kept bugging me to go to her Youth for Christ meetings with her. She was relentless.

:eyes:

She was a huge pain in the butt. I managed to ditch her as soon as the college would let me.

[RandomThoughts]

23. Yea, don't blame her, when people learn some of that.

Often something tries to pull them to far to another area of it not down the middle, judgment and self righteousness.

Had to go through that myself at times. Basically when you stick to the basics it makes more sense. I made some mistakes navigating some of that myself.


There is also a delusion to try to get some people of most religions to show they are happy when they are not. Have to watch for that also.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. I don't understand a single thing you said.

[RandomThoughts]

27. Then you need to learn to read :) It is not that complicated.

Some people when they find spiritual existence get pulled all the way to the other side, where they lose balance.

[Fire1]

29. Oooh! You're talking about the "religious right?" n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. No, you need to learn to write coherently and on-topic.

The topic wasn't "spiritual existence"; it was annoying roommates. My roommate, specifically, was annoying because she pestered me about her religion, not because she had some "spiritual existence" issues. If you would stick to the subject instead of meandering off on those tangential and recondite musings, maybe the rest of us would have some concept of what your posts actually mean.

:eyes:

[RandomThoughts]

31. I could say the same thing about things taken out of perspective in much of life.

I do agree that could be more polite. And in that it is something to think about.

but using comments as a springboard for thought is a good way to examine things.

And it really was on topic, because it explains some of the exuberance with that group. And why they can be annoying.



I had a bit of an unusual situation where on topic thoughts on day to day things had no effect on solving some issues, so had to move to some other ways of thinking.

[Fire1]

25. Ah. Too bad. I found out early on that I was NOT

the "roommate" type. Hope she can stick it out but somehow I doubt it. Oil and H20.

[david13]

26. Northen. There is your problem. But believe me, I don't think there

are very many republicans left in that state.
I recall legions of misfits and other wackos, in addition to myself when I attended school.
But it was really mostly republican. About 60 40, I perceived.
I went to Ann Arbor.
dc

[Fire1]

28. You mean you were a "Wolverine!"" YAY!!!!

[OmahaBlueDog]

32. It's a good thing

She'll learn to defend her values, which is a good thing.

She will learn to tolerate other viewpoints, which is a good thing.

If she must change roommates, she will learn how to navigate the student housing bureaucracy, which is a good thing.

She and the winger will probably learn that they have more in common than they suspect, which is a good thing.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

35. I moved home after one semester...

I went through two room-mates my first semester, one was a goth kid who was also a chronic masturbater who left the bathroom and shower covered in cum and the other was a preppy jock who beat up a date after she declined to blow him in a parking lot half an hour into their first date.

My parents and braving SoCal traffic to make 8:00 classes was bliss by comparison!

[PassingFair]

36. You make the rabid republican sound like a cakewalk!

Yes, it could be much worse.

She never called back tonight, so at least
she must have gotten over the boredom....

[slay]

37. Same thing happened to me in 1992

my roommate had Bush Sr. for President signs all over his half of the room! Ack! The rest of my hall were pot smoking liberals as was common back then so that helped, but it SUCKED living with that dude. She might want to to request a transfer - at my college if you could get all parties to agree you could switch roommates. If not, it's not the end of the world - just close to it. Doh.

Regardless, I think it's time for her to start printing out some posters...

[madrchsod]

38. my grand daughter was thinking about going there...

good thing those plans have changed

[LeftinOH]

39. Some of the biggest whores (both male & female) I knew in college were repubs; STDs, abortions*,

drunken binges, DUIs, etc. It may not be long before the roommate finds a 'friend' and spends most of her time elsewhere (hopefully elsewhere).

*Not a judgment, but an act of extreme hypocrisy when done by those who would deny it to others.

[PassingFair]

40. Funny....

she told my daughter last night that she wanted to
move into a co-ed dorm to be close to the parties.

:eyes:

This is NOT breaking my daughter's heart....

[XemaSab]

41. One of the best roommates I had was a republican

and some of the worst were hippies.

Political disagreements are nothing.

Try psychotic, filthy, or loud if you want to have a real problem. Or a hippie roommate who picks up random homeless dudes downtown and lets them sleep in the living room. x(

[uncommon]

42. True that - a quiet, clean conservative who doesn't use your shampoo might be better than

a loud slob who agrees with your politics.

Just sayin'.

[Yavin4]

44. Don't They Screen Roomates Online Now?

I thought that they let you screen your roomates online.

Any way. I went to college with Freepers when I was a kid. It's part of the growing up process.