Rutgers Students Bring Laptops, Mementos on Move-In Day

As Rutgers  students moved in for the new school year last week, it was clear that high-tech essentials, like laptops and Ipads, have replaced yesteryear’s stereos, desktop computers and – once upon a time – typewriters. But other items, like new comforters and keepsakes from home, are still on the list as they have been for decades. 

 

What students unpack on move-in day can signal their college expectations and attitudes toward separating from family and friends, said Estelle Mayhew, an assistant instructor in Rutgers' Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, who specializes in adolescent development.  “Students can be hugely different in how they evaluate their past home experience and their projections for college life,’‘ Mayhew said. “There’s the person who plasters her dorm wall with pictures of friends and family before even unpacking her clothes. Then there’s the student who takes nothing to remind him of home, which could be because of embarrassment,  a desire for a new start, lack of forethought or any number of reasons.”

 

Nick Romanenko

As Madison Tiernan, Praeger’s roommate, unloaded her mom’s car last week, she grabbed a photo collage of high school buddies arranged on an oversized cork board. “It was a way to bring home with me,’’ said Tiernan, a first-year student from Voorhees. “A lot of my friends are going to different places around the country.’’

 

Gustavo Familia, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice and ecology, wasn’t as sentimental.“The most important things are my Xbox and my TV,’’ said Familia, who lives in Stonier Hall. On move-in day last week, he hadn’t brought many mementos from home in West New York. But he did plan on hanging up some New York Yankees posters and images of his favorite video games, "Halo"and "Call of Duty."

 

Decorations like these often convey important messages to classmates, many of whom are strangers initially, according to Mayhew.“They can be a way of telegraphing identity,’’ she said.

 

While Familia coordinated with his roommate, a fellow gamer, before packing for school, roommates can have clashing styles. That’s the case with Tiernan and Praeger, who didn’t even attempt to match bedspreads and other furnishings. Tiernan favors cheetah patterns, according to Praeger, who considers herself more sedate.“Her side of the room is going to be really funky and my side is going to be plain. It’s gray, the most boring color on the planet,’’ she said with a laugh.

 

Most of the items on the “what to bring” list created by university residence life are more utilitarian: two extra-long twin sheet sets, a first aid kit, storage boxes and other basics.

 

Some items that students used to pack, like mini-fridges and microwaves, are already installed in dorms, said Joan Carbone, executive director of Residence Life. Other move-in relics from the past are now considered fire hazards. Hot plates and candles are verboten – and no incense, Carbone said.

 

And although they aren’t banned, Carbone rarely sees move-in staples from her own college days many years ago. “No one moves in with a little black and white TV. Students just use their laptops,’’ she said. “And when I went to college, people brought fine art posters, like Picasso’s ‘Guernica.’ No one does that anymore.”

 

Although for many first-years, dorm rooms are their first brush with independent living – complete with home furnishing decisions and choosing the right laundry detergent – the transition is gradual, said Mayhew.

 

“Students don't have to find housing, cook for themselves or pay rent and electric bills,’’ she said. “That’s happens when they go to off-campus housing, or even after college.”