Maggie Gordon is living in her own filth.

The freshman newspaper major hasn’t done laundry in weeks and clothes are piled up on the floor in her Flint Hall open double. Newspaper and printed pages are strewn around the room and dining hall containers from who-knows-when clutter her desk. Except for a few decorations, the walls are bare and her goldfish is swimming in murky green water.

Gordon may be the perfect candidate for a room makeover, and that’s just what the Residence Hall Association’s latest project in-the-works, ‘Pimp My Room,’ could do for her.

‘We want this to be talked about,’ said Tony Bartocci, president of RHA and a senior information studies major. ‘We want this to be spread about campus. We want people to be saying ‘I want my room to be pimped out.”

Although still only a basic idea, RHA is planning some sort of contest based on the MTV show ‘Pimp My Ride,’ Bartocci said. The idea for a program that would offer students a chance to win a fully furnished dorm room has a lot of potential and would, in theory, get students’ interest, he said. Each student on campus would have the opportunity to participate and have the chance to have his or her room be fabulous.

The idea for a room makeover contest has been kicked around for a few months, but is still stuck on a back-burner, Bartocci said. Thus, many of the RHA board members don’t even know about it. Bartocci, however, wants to get it started soon because he thinks it could help more people find out what RHA is all about. He is already talking to corporations like Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond for their possible donations to this cause, he said.

‘There are a ton of hoops to get over,’ Bartocci said. ‘If we do get those final points settled down, I’d love to see this happen this year. But if not, we’ve laid the groundwork for the fall next year.’

The program would provide a two-fold benefit, Bartocci said. RHA would be able to reach out to the campus, while students would be provided a cool room.

Everyone living in SU housing would have a chance to compete for a spot in a game show, Bartocci said, either through some sort of writing contest or scavenger hunt. The grand prize for the show would be an ultimate dorm room makeover, complete with amenities from corporations which would have donated services or actually physical items, Bartocci said. The program would most likely be held early in the semester so the person who won could have more than just a couple of weeks to live in the room.

One major issue with the idea would be just how much decorating RHA could do to a dorm room. Some changes, like repainting the walls, would have to be approved by the Office of Residential Life by going through different procedures. Other changes, such as redoing all the furniture, would not be able to happen at all.

‘They’re not going to be able to do some of the bigger things, like they’re not going to be able to bring in a carpenter, like in ‘Trading Spaces,” said Dave Rosch, an assistant director in the Office of Residence Life. ‘But for a lot of the little things, the more imagination they have, the broader their options.’

In the spirit of RHA’s mission, Bartocci would also like to encourage collaborations with different organizations, and even classes, on the project. He would love to explore the possibility of bringing in some interior design majors to give input on the room.

The inclusion of interior design majors is doable, but only as an extracurricular activity because SU’s interior design program teaches its students an architectural style instead of a furnishing and decorating one, said Frank Morigi, professor of interior design.

‘We just teach on a different level, but our students could certainly work on these type of things,’ Morigi said. ‘Any type of interior is important for people to work and live.’

It could be a fun and exciting program for students, said Jennifer Lee, a senior interior design major. Although she didn’t know if she would get involved, she knows her friends, even the non-ID majors, love to decorate and would be thrilled to get involved.

Others think that, no matter how interesting the project may be, no one could decorate to suit their tastes better than themselves.

‘I would not do it because I like the personality my room has,’ said Joan Kump, a sophomore art history major. ‘My decorations are very eclectic.’

Published on December 7, 2004 at 12:00 pm