Should college freshmen choose their own roommates? Colleges have traditionally assigned roommates to first-year students. With the Internet, students are now making requests.

• Position: DEBATE

YES Gone are the days when first-year students arrived at college without any idea of what their assigned roommates would be like. Today, it's common for students--and parents--to use Facebook to look up soon-to-be-roommates online. Often they discover lifestyle habits and values that aren't compatible with their own.

Letting students use the incredible networking tools available on the Internet to choose their own freshman roommates would help solve this problem. Let's not forget that students (and parents) are the customers: With the rising costs of higher education, choice is not merely a preference; it's an expectation.

Some argue that giving students a choice will result in their living with clones of themselves, hindering their ability to deal in the real world with people who don't share their viewpoints. In reality, students will be exposed to different views and backgrounds in classrooms, dining halls, student organizations, and other campus settings. The dorm room is a student's only space to call his or her own. It needs to be a place of stability and comfort.

A recent study by Michigan State University showed roommate conflicts was one of the top-five reasons for dropping out of college. While many students survive random roommate assignments, some don't graduate as a result. If incoming freshmen could choose their own roommates, this problem would diminish.

When I was at the University of Miami, I had lots of friends who had terrible roommate experiences. That's part of what inspired me to launch RoomSurf.com, an online service that helps first-year students find compatible roommates. Students clearly expect to have a say in who they room with, and colleges should let them have it.

--JUSTIN GAITHER

Co-founder, RoomSurf.com

NO When I went off to college in 1986, I ended up with Tony from Sacramento, California, a quiet, Republican son of a judge, as my freshman roommate. I had never met anyone like Tony, and I'm pretty sure he hadn't come across many half-Jewish, Democratic...