THEY’RE sloppy. They have overnight guests. You don’t get to pick them. And now this: roommates may affect your politics and your grades.
David J. Zimmerman, an economics professor at Williams College, recently looked at the political views of 3,500 students who had shared rooms as freshmen, noting their leanings when they started college and again three years after graduation. Generally, roommates kept the same political persuasion — except those freshmen whose roommates were on the far left of the political spectrum. No matter what their politics at enrollment, they were more likely than similar students to be conservative as adults.
“It’s reactionary in some way,” says Mr. Zimmerman, who surveyed two colleges. Ann Coulter, author of “How to Talk to a Liberal (if You Must),” had this to say: “Not much to explain. They see liberal hygiene up close.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/education/edlife/roommates-its-enough-to-make-you-conservative.html?smid=pl-share