Miami University does not plan to follow suit on the "sexiling" ban that Tufts University recently implemented for the 2009-10 school year, according to Jerry Olson, director of residence life.
Sexiling is the term given to the act of kicking out a roommate in order to bring a partner into a residence hall room.
CNN.com stated this act, as well as having sex in a room with the roommate present, is banned under Tuft's student handbook due to overwhelming student complaints.
Olson said he does not see this action necessary for Miami, although he did recognize the behavior does occur on the Oxford campus.
"It would be preferable that roommates talk about these kind of issues as opposed to legislating it through a policy," Olson said. "I don't think we have to rely on a policy in order for roommates to understand that they may be making the other roommate uncomfortable."
However, Olson said complaints about sexiling, have reached their way to the office of residential life.
"I would guess over the course of the fall semester (so far), we'll get a couple of complaints," Olson said.
But many students said they are keeping quiet about this practice.
One anonymous sophomore student said although she is "sexiled" weekly by her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend, it has not been a problem for their relationship.
"I'm never in the room," the student said. "She'll text me, and we came up with a system to know when I can't come in the room."
For other students, sexiling may not be so simple, according to Anderson Hall Resident Assistant Liz Miller.
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"I asked a girl, late one night, to go back to her room and she said something along the lines of, 'I would but my roommate is a slut and she is in there with her boyfriend,'" Miller said.
Although Miller did witness some residential aggression between roommates on the controversial issue, she has not personally had any complaints from residents. Miller also said the roommate contract, signed by all on-campus roommates, does not explicitly address sex.
"There is a question about having a visitor," Miller said. "Visitors are considered people of the opposite sex. Many people say that it's fine for guys to stay in the room as long as it's a weekend or they don't have a test."
According to first-year Morris Hall resident Amy Fox, students do have a problem with staying in the room while opposite-sex visitors are present.
"People get sexiled because more people choose to leave the room," Fox said.
Fellow first-year Morris Hall resident Lacey Schmidt also commented on the issue.
"Every weekend there have been a lot of people stranded in the hallway, unsure of what to do and have no place to go," Schmidt said.
Schmidt said some students are forced to use unconventional methods to find a room for the night.
"Some people will write on their Facebook statuses that they need a place to stay because their roommate is having a boy come over," Schmidt said.
Fox and Schmidt both admitted sexiling and having sex in the dorms with roommates present was a norm in Morris Hall but said keeping the university out of the situation, as Olson predicted, is important.
"I think roommates should deal with it on their own, but if it gets out of hand then they should talk to an RA," Fox said.
For now, students will have the right to banish their roommate for a night but that roommate will always have the right to find another roommate, according to Olson.
"We know it's difficult at times to live together," Olson said. "We want to bring the parties together and see if there is a reasonable way to work out the difference and if it doesn't work then we will try and assist (both) students in finding a good switch."
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