Madison. Family Weekend. ... personal safety and crime prevention efforts are. the responsibility of the entire JMU community.

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1 F a l l Vo l u m e 1, I s s u e 2 i s i d e Madiso J a m e s M a d i s o U i v e r s i t y F a m i l y p a r e t Joi the Madiso family fu Sept Welcome from Presidet Rose ad departmet receptios ad presetatios. Diig raderie are the uiversal themes of Fam- optios iclude Godwi Luch Alfresco, Picic o the ily Weeked at JMU. Highlights this year Commos, Fatastic Feast, ad a Luch with a View. iclude etertaimet by Smokey Joe s Café, the Pops Cocert, Cotemporary Gospel Sigers, Most importatly, the weeked allows plety of opportuity for parets to sped time with their studets. Cotiued o Page 8 >>> Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Promotig campus safety Roommates, coflicts, Page 7 ad resolutios tertaimet, adveture, diig ad cama- Page 2 Livig o or off campus A ew begiig ties like caoeig, climbig ad hikig as well as college Welcomig trasfer studets Authorized QuikBill Judicial Affairs weeked offers both actio ad academics with activi- Uiversity Program Board Paret caledar Attetio Sophomores Godwi Field Festival ad the Dukes vs. Villaova. The Time of trasitio College Parets of America Service opportuities E e w s l e t t e r C o e c t i o Family Weeked Alterative Sprig Break has studets stadig i lie. r e l a t i o s Iformatio ight I case of emergecy... persoal safety ad crime prevetio efforts are the resposibility of the etire JMU commuity. L i wood H. R ose Presidet Read more about campus safety o page 6. Office of Paret Relatios 220 Uiversity Blvd., MSC 3605 Harrisoburg, VA (540) Family Weeked fu from last year shows the atmosphere parets will ejoy agai Sept

2 Time of trasitio Whe a studet leaves for college, the etire family faces a tremedous time of trasitio. Most studets go through a adjustmet period ad experiece ups ad dows while livig away from home. There are may resources available o campus for studets to successfully maage this trasitio. Support ad ecouragemet from home is importat; yet, studets mature through their ow experieces. By all meas, parets, be a soudig board, but ecourage your studet to hadle problems o his or her ow as much as possible. Studet success is depedet upo this ability to fuctio idepedetly. While your studet is our focus, parets, you are also a valuable part of our commuity, havig etrusted your so or daughter to us. Li w o o d H. Ro s e College Parets of America As a paret of a JMU studet, you are ivited to joi College Parets of America free of charge through James Madiso Uiversity s istitutioal membership. As a member, you will receive a quarterly ewsletter geared to your studet s specific year i college, the orgaizatio s colum by its presidet, access to iformatio o the membersoly part of the Web site ad other expert resources. For more iformatio, go to org/jmuparet. 2 Family Coectio Welcome to the JMU family Dear Parets: As a ew academic year begis, we at JMU, welcome your studet back to campus, ad sed greetigs to each of you, the exteded members of the JMU family. However, this is o ordiary year for James Madiso Uiversity. First fouded i 1908, Madiso is celebratig its Ceteial Aiversary. It is a year of reflectio o our rich history, a year of lookig forward, ad most of all, a year of celebratio. I hope you will joi us from time to time as we commemorate this Madiso Cetury. Throughout our 100- year evolutio, the uiversity has remaied studet-cetered, first ad foremost. While your studet is our focus, parets, you are also a valuable part of our commuity, havig etrusted your so or daughter to us. Therefore, I wat to brig your attetio to the tremedous resource ad team of paret advocates preset i our Office of Paret Relatios at JMU. Sherry Kig, director of paret relatios, ad her staff are eager to serve you should you have ay questios or eeds regardig your so or daughter s Madiso experiece. The Office of Paret Relatios is your source of iformatio for topics ragig from studet housig to orderig athletic tickets, ad much more. Sherry Kig Director (540) kigsf@jmu.edu Beig a paret, I kow you are iterested i your studet s safety. Let me assure you that we are serious about safety at JMU. While we caot predict the ature ad timig of a crisis, we ca cotrol our respose to the emergecy through advaced plaig ad traiig. I ecourage you to read about our Emergecy Respose Pla described withi the article o safety featured i this ewsletter. While James Madiso Uiversity cotiues its commitmet to the safety ad well-beig of its studets, faculty ad staff members, persoal safety ad crime prevetio efforts are the resposibility of the etire JMU commuity. Please take a miute to talk with your so or daughter about persoal safety ad ecourage them to observe all campus safety policies ad urge frieds to do likewise. For those of you who are first-time JMU parets, I hope that you ejoyed your Summer Sprig Board Orietatio visit to campus ad that you retured to JMU armed with cofidece to deliver your daughters ad sos for their first semester. For those of you who are seasoed JMU parets, the adveture i academic, social ad experietial learig for your studet cotiues o i a fresh ew semester. We welcome you all back at JMU this fall. Liwood H. Rose Presidet, James Madiso Uiversity Paret Relatios Meet the staff Tracey Kite Assistat Director (540) kitetl@jmu.edu Deborah Ceters Admiistrative Assistat (540) ceterdj@jmu.edu

3 Uique service opportuities have studets waitig i lie By Lorelei Esbeshade To make a differece. To put classroom kowledge to the test. To make frieds for a lifetime. These are just a few of the may reasos that more ad more JMU studets are choosig to sped their time off o a Alterative Break trip. The Alterative Break Program provides a group-travelig, commuity-livig, alcohol/drug-free service-learig experiece. While most trips occur durig the weeklog sprig break period, trips ca occur durig ay of JMU s academic breaks. Workig with atioal ad iteratioal commuities, the program trais ad immerses studets i a purposeful service experiece desiged to coect studets ad commuity members while ehacig persoal growth, mutual awareess ad lifelog learig. Each service trip cosists of 10 to 15 team members. Two studets develop ad co-lead each trip. They are prepared for these leadership resposibilities through a 15-week leadership-traiig program. Each trip team icludes a faculty/staff Learig Parter who UPB educates ad etertais By Sarah Sude The Uiversity Program Board is a studet-ru, studet-fuded orgaizatio receivig more fudig from the Studet Govermet Associatio tha ay other studet group. UPB strives to offer a plethora of educatioal ad etertaiig programs to complemet the studets academic experiece. Evets offered iclude cocerts, movies, speakers, ovelty acts ad may more ope to ALL studets. A variety of evets are plaed to keep studets etertaied while o campus this fall. UPB works closely with the orietatio office to coordiate activities durig Highlights of 1787 evets sposored by UPB are fatasy casio, comedias, hypotists ad so much more. Ecourage your studets to atted these evets! The fu cotiues well beyod UPB operates a movie theater Wedesdays through Saturdays i Grafto-Stovall Theatre, where blockbuster movies are show prior to release o DVD. All tickets are $2.50 at Rebuildig i the wake of Hurricae Katria: 25 trips, 300 studets ad 100 more waitig i lie. helps make coectios betwee the service experiece ad his or her academic disciplie. For the Alterative Break Program offered more tha 25 differet trips i the Uited States, Domiica, Jamaica, Bahamas, Domiica Republic ad Guatemala. These 25 trips demostrate the pheomeal growth the program has experieced sice it bega i 1992 with a sigle trip. May factors cotribute to the program s popularity. First, it offers studets a positive alcoholad drug-free alterative to sprig break trips that are cetered o alcohol cosumptio. It immerses ad coects studets with issues ad experieces they caot fid o the uiversity campus. It provides studets with cocrete ad meaigful ways to serve others. It provides real-life applicatios for what studets are learig i their academic field of study. Fially, it provides studets a positive aveue to affiliate with a group ad make lastig relatioships. For more iformatio visit Alterative Break s Web site at www jmu.edu/csl/asb. M the door, or a movie pass ca be purchased for $20 to see ay 10 movies throughout the semester. I additio to the fall movie lieup, UPB is proud to sposor the Verizo Wireless Music Uleashed Tour featurig Gym Class Heroes o Wedesday, Oct. 3, i the JMU Covocatio Ceter. Studet tickets will be available at a special pre-sale price of $15 for reserved seatig ad $20 for floor tickets (limit two tickets) o Moday, Sept. 10, oly. O this day, tickets ca oly be purchased at the Uiversity Busiess Office. After this special pre-sale, all studet tickets will be $20 (limit two). For more iformatio about purchasig tickets, please cotact Sarah Sude, UPB coordiator, at (540) or sudesa@jmu.edu. UPB strives to create memorable experieces by seekig to offer activities that educate, elighte ad etertai the JMU commuity. If you or your studet have suggestios o activities, please do ot hesitate to cotact UPB (540) or upb@jmu.edu. For a more comprehesive listig of evets or to purchase tickets for your so or daughter please visit the UPB Web site at M Dates for Parets: Fall Semester 2007 Aug Orietatio Aug. 27 First day of classes Sept Family Weeked Oct. 19 Fall break Oct Homecomig Oct. 29 Registratio for 2008 sprig semester Nov Thaksgivig break Dec. 7 Last day of classes Dec Fial examiatios Dec. 15 Commecemet Dec. 21 Uiversity closes at oo Dec Uiversity holidays Sprig Semester 2008 Ja.7 First day of classes Ja. 21 Marti Luther Kig Jr. Day (o classes) Feb. 12 Studet assessmet/faculty assistace March 3-7 Sprig break March 14 James Madiso Day March 24 Advace registratio for 2008 summer semester begis April 1 Registratio begis for 2008 fall semester April 25 Last day of classes April 28 - May 2 Fial examiatios May 3 Commecemet Iformatio Resources for Parets: (866) (540) paret@jmu.edu fall

4 Are you a authorized Quik- BILL payer? Authorized payers have 24/7 access to their studet s fiacial accout through the JMU Uiversity Busiess Office Web site. Authorized payers receive otificatio each time a semester billig statemet is processed ad ready to be viewed. Authorized payers ca prit off a copy of the semester billig statemet for their records. Authorized payers ca make a quick olie paymet with a credit card (MasterCard, America Express or Discover) or a electroic check paymet with a regular checkig accout. Authorized payers ca view their studet s class schedule. Authorized payers ca view their studet s fiacial aid. Authorized payers ca view credits for Virgiia Prepaid Educatio Pla. Authorized payers ca view Tuitio Maagemet Systems istallmet paymet budget ad all paymets as they post mothly. Authorized payers ca view all accout activity, i.e., ew charges, paymets ad adjustmets, after the iitial semester billig statemet is posted (through the Accout Status lik). If you re ready to become a authorized payer, follow these quick ad easy steps. ❶ You will eed your studet s help he or she is the oly perso who ca add authorized payers to his or her QuikBILL accout. ❷ Studet access to QuikBILL is through ecampus, ad oce i QuikBILL, the Authorized Payer lik is just a click away. ❸ Create a log-i ame, create a temporary password, ad eter a valid address. The click the Add butto ad it s doe. ❹ If you eed help, call the UBO s staff at (540) , ubo@jmu.edu or stop by the UBO office o the mai floor of Warre Hall. For additioal iformatio o QuikBILL, visit Attetio sophomores I a effort to help studets make academic decisios so they ca progress i their majors ad reach graduatio i a reasoable period of time, JMU requires studets to declare their majors i the fall of their sophomore year. This year s sophomores must declare their majors by Friday, Sept. 14, After that date, sophomores without a major will have a iformatio hold placed o their records to remid them to declare. If they have ot declared before advaced registratio starts for the sprig semester, the a advisig hold is placed o their records; ad they caot register for classes. If studets must pass a auditio or have a certai grade poit average to declare a major, Career ad Academic Plaig will develop a cotract with studets that will allow them to work toward their declared majors ad register for classes for the sprig semester. Career ad Academic Plaig also has umerous programs to help studets with their academic ad career decisio-makig. JMU welcomes trasfer studets By Tisha McCoy These iclude: IS 202 Career ad Life Plaig class for freshme ad sophomores This oe-credit block course uses several ivetories ad exercises, as well as reflectio ad discussio, to help studets lear more about their values, persoalities, iterests, ad abilities ad how these relate to potetial majors or careers. Check ecampus for course availability. Major ad Career Decisios Program This program provides small-group sessios to help studets of all academic levels decide upo a major ad/or career by explorig iterests, skills, values ad career optios. Sessios are arraged to work with studet schedules. Call or come by the office to sig up for the program. FOCUS olie career plaig program FOCUS provides iteractive self-assessmet tools as well as iformatio o career fields, icludig salaries ad job outlook iformatio. Studets may access the program from the Career ad Academic Plaig Web site by usig their e-ids ad passwords. Resource Ceter The Resource Ceter provides more tha 500 titles o a variety of career-related topics icludig iformatio o majors ad careers, descriptios of career fields, itership guides ad employmet treds. Career Guide to JMU Majors This resource available olie at describes each academic program, lists career optios, describes the typical studet i that major, provides liks to related Web sites ad icludes a lik to the academic departmet. Idividual appoitmet with a academic ad career adviser Career ad Academic Plaig advisers work with udeclared studets but also advise studets who are chagig majors or wat to explore other optios. Call or stop by to make a appoitmet. Virtual Adviser Use the Career ad Academic Plaig Web site to ask questios regardig academic ad career issues via a chat format. Majors Fair This evet, usually held i late Jauary, provides the opportuity for freshme ad major chagers to talk with professors ad studets from various departmets o campus ad lear more about specific majors, cocetratios ad miors. Tuesday Nights Rock! This program ecompasses a variety of presetatios ad services, which are offered o Tuesday eveigs, 5-7 p.m., i the fall ad sprig semesters. M Family members receive iformatio about how to support their studets i trasitio to JMU life. Eve before the first day of summer officially arrived, hudreds of ew trasfer studets bega trasitioig to a ew college learig experiece at JMU. For some studets, this trasitio was a part of their collegiate aspiratios sice they first erolled at a other colleges. The orietatio office ethusiastically welcomed more tha 600 ew trasfer studets ad their families to the uiversity durig Trasfer Summer Sprigboard i the first week of Jue. Oce studets are i the swig of thigs, Madiso Trasfer will serve as their home base o campus. Madiso Trasfer is a resource area for JMU s trasfer studet populatio. Madiso Trasfer Assistats are traied to aswer questios ragig from credit appeals to meal plas. Studets are also welcome to stop by just to hag out betwee classes or to grab a cup of coffee. Throughout the semester, Madiso Trasfer will sposor several programs with other campus departmets to help studets get ivolved ad coected to resources essetial to their trasitio. Madiso Trasfer was created to assist your studet, so ecourage them to visit! M 4 Family Coectio

5 Judicial Affairs promotes studet learig ad civic resposibility By Tammy Kot Should you worry if your so or daughter calls ad metios they are ivolved with the Office of Judicial Affairs? Not ecessarily. Your first questio may be, What is Judicial Affairs? The Office of Judicial Affairs is a departmet withi the Divisio of Studet Affairs ad Uiversity Plaig committed to promotig studet learig, civic resposibility ad, through parterships, developig the commuity ecessary for the uiversity to achieve its missio. Judicial Affairs members are ot lawyers or i ay way associated with the crimial legal system. It does ot hear academic dishoesty cases (the JMU Hoor Coucil hears those). Judicial Affairs oly hadles JMU commuity stadards violatios. Parets as parters There are times whe the Office of Judicial Affairs itetioally otifies parets about their studet s judicial violatios. Parets of all studets uder 21 will be otified after ay first major violatio (DUI, drug distributio, hospitalizatio) or two mior violatios (uderage possessio, marijuaa possessio, druk i public). The Family Educatioal Rights ad Privacy Act prevets Judicial Affairs from otifyig parets about violatios outside those related to drugs or alcohol. Whether you are otified by Judicial Affairs or your studet iforms you that he/she is beig charged judicially, you should discuss the icidet with your studet. To better prepare yourself for your discussio, you ca check out the Judicial Affairs Web site at edu/judicial. There is a special sectio just for parets. Studet learig Judicial Affairs does ot puish studets. Primarily its sactios iclude a educatioal program ad probatio. Please check the Web site to lear more about these educatioal programs. Judicial Affairs programs are based o studet learig theory ad reliable assessmets. That meas the itetio for your studet s case is to teach them about the commuity stadards at JMU ad the to ecourage them to make choices that fall withi the agreed upo stadards. Civic resposibility Civic resposibility fits directly with the missio of James Madiso Uiversity to create educated ad elighteed citizes. Judicial Affairs supports the uiversity s missio. I today s global society, civically resposible idividuals who are egaged with their commuities are desperately eeded. All of JMU s educatioal sactios iclude a compoet that examies what it meas to be a civically resposible perso. All the JMU commuity stadards ad judicial processes are i the JMU studet hadbook that studets receive their first year. The hadbook ca be viewed olie at Civic resposibility fits directly with the missio of James Madiso Uiversity to create educated ad elighteed citizes. Ufortuately, there are times whe Judicial Affairs must separate studets from the JMU commuity. Some examples of violatios that would result i suspesio are drug dealig, violece to persos, sexual assault ad cotiued violatios of policies. Every case is heard o a idividual basis ad sactios may vary based o circumstaces ad past judicial history. Dad, I got arrested for uderage possessio of alcohol... It probably does ot surprise you that the majority of cases Judicial Affairs addresses are violatios of the JMU alcohol policy. The commuity stadards at JMU ad the surroudig city regardig alcohol may be differet from where your so or daughter grew up or what they might have expected i college. Studets who are arrested off campus ad foud guilty i court for uderage alcohol possessio ad druk i public receive the followig pealties: they usually sped the ight i jail, receive a $300 fie, sped 10 weeks i alcohol safety actio program classes, ad are give probatio ad 50 hours commuity service. Oce they are foud guilty i court ad receive all the aforemetioed pealties, the they come to the Office of Judicial Affairs to address the JMU policy violatio. This is a separate process from the crimial system ad could result i additioal educatioal programs ad probatio at the uiversity. This is part of JMU s off-campus policy, which icludes alcohol, drugs, feloy covictios ad ay other behavior that affects the educatioal missio of the uiversity. Civic resposibility icludes beig a good eighbor i the commuity you live i, ad Judicial Affairs members care about the commuity i which studets live. Three strikes JMU has a three-strikes sactioig strategy for alcohol ad drug violatios. This meas if studets are foud resposible for three alcohol or drug violatios, they will be suspeded. Be aware that this is a miimum sactioig strategy, meaig suspesio for alcohol ad drugs ca occur after just oe violatio. As you ca see, Judicial Affairs seriously cosiders the abuse of alcohol ad uderage drikig ad the effects they have o the commuity. Judicial Affairs is a studet resource If your so or daughter is victimized, harassed or abused by aother studet, this could be a violatio of uiversity policy. Please have your studet call the Judicial Affairs office or come i ad discuss the optios. Judicial Affairs has a ope-door policy for ay victim wishig to cosult about the judicial process. If it is a immediately dagerous situatio, please ecourage your so or daughter to call the police. Thak you for parterig with Judicial Affairs. For more iformatio go to or call (540) M O or off campus The housig decisio really matters Livig eviromets affect every aspect of your studet s college experiece ad academic success. Off-campus apartmet complexes will soo begi aggressive marketig campaigs to etice studets to sig a apartmet lease for ext year. For may studets, off-campus livig is just the right choice. The Offices of Residece Life ad Off Campus Life ecourage studets to live o campus for at least two years, however. That s because research shows that studets who do so are more likely to graduate, are more satisfied with their college experiece ad are more ivolved with campus activities. Talk opely with your studet about the advatages ad disadvatages of both oad off-campus livig. Cosult Residece Life ad Off Campus Life for assistace i this decisio. Both offices ca help provide studets with iformatio ad guidace as they secure housig i Harrisoburg for ext year. What to thik about First ad foremost, do ot rush ito makig the housig decisio. Start comparative shoppig durig fall term Talk to ORL staff, ladlords ad potetial roommates. Discuss roommate compatibility (livig ad study habits, attitudes toward parties ad overight guests, divisio of chores, whose ame is o the utility bills, purchasig food ad supplies) Where to look To fid iformatio about residece halls o campus, visit the ORL Web site at web.jmu.edu/reslife, call (540) , or visit Huffma Hall, Room A101. To fid iformatio about livig off campus, call (540) , visit the OCL Web site at ocl/, use the AIM scree ame Ask OCL, or visit Warre Hall, secod floor, Trasitios. fall

6 Promotig campus safety At o other time i our atio s history has safety o college campuses bee such a topic of atioal coversatio. Followig the tragic evets of April 16 at Virgiia Tech, James Madiso Uiversity cotiues its strog ad ogoig commitmet to the safety ad well-beig of its studets ad faculty ad staff members. Safety, emergecy respose ad commuicatio measures iclude: Comprehesive Emergecy Respose Pla has bee used by more tha 400 orgaizatios atioally ad iteratioally. This pla is cosistetly evaluated ad updated. The Office of Public Safety, a professioal force of state-traied police officers, is resposible for the direct oversight of the comprehesive emergecy respose pla. Emergecy Respose ad Recovery Team of key uiversity leaders serves as a task force ad i a emergecy would advise the presidet ad seior vice presidets. Multiple emergecy commuicatio methods idetified by the team iclude cell phoe emergecy alerts, which iclude text ad voice messagig; blast messages, which ca be set ad received withi two to five miutes; a campus sire system with a public address system; the uiversity Web page; off-campus reverse 911 alerts; loudspeakers i each campus police patrol vehicle; ad local televisio ad radio statios ad ewspapers. Aual emergecy traiig of hall directors, residet advisers ad buildig coordiators o emergecy procedures to beefit the studets i residece halls, classrooms ad diig ad recreatio facilities. Residece hall safeguards: Halls are locked 24 hours a day, etry requires card access, prop door alarms esure that doors remai closed ad locked. A ew begiig CSPC offers assistace to studets ad parets i dealig with the trasitio to college By David Oestak Icomig studets ad parets ofte view college as a ew begiig ad hope that past issues ad problems will disappear with the move to campus. Ufortuately, experiece suggests that the opposite is more likely to be true. There are a umber of importat steps that studets with past or existig persoal problems ca take to improve their adjustmet to college ad icrease their chaces for success. R e s o u r c e s : More iformatio Office of Public Safety (540) Office of Public Affairs (540) Persoal Resposibility Talk to your studet about persoal safety. Ecourage your studet to observe all campus safety policies ad local laws. O the Parets Web Site Message from the Harrisoburg Police Departmet Crime prevetio tips Harrisoburg City laws ad ordiaces Commowealth of Virgiia laws Avoidig usafe orgaizatios Cell phoe alerts available Studets ca receive emergecy text or voice message alerts through their cell phoes by sigig up through E-campus. Check the JMU Web Page Studet Gateway or E-campus for istructios. Please guide your studet to choose the best alert optio depedig o his or her cell service. Ay studet who has bee previously diagosed with a serious psychological issue (e.g., depressio, substace abuse, etc.) should cotiue with their prescribed therapeutic regimes, whether it be couselig, medicatio or both. I particular, studets takig medicatio should make arragemets to maitai the ecessary supply while away at school. It may be a good idea for the studet to obtai from established providers a summary of his/her previous treatmet. If the studet seeks services at JMU s Couselig ad Studet Developmet Ceter (Varer House), such iformatio will help the CSDC staff to determie whether available services will be sufficiet to meet the studet s eeds or whether some other therapeutic arragemet would be more beeficial. While importat to all studets, avoidig excesses i alcohol ad other drug use is especially critical for those college studets with a prior or existig metal health cocer. Substace abuse egatively impacts the persoal, social ad academic fuctioig of the studet ad greatly reduces the chaces of studet success. Visit the CSDC s Web site located at The sectios desiged for freshme ad parets may be especially useful. Most importatly, the CSDC has developed the New Studet Support Program to assist studets who have previous or existig emotioal cocers to successfully adjust to their ew college eviromet. Through this program, a studet has the opportuity, prior to comig to campus, to review his/her specific situatio with a couselor who will determie how to meet the studet s eeds while i college. Possible recommedatios iclude, but are ot limited to, (1) seekig services at the CSDC, (2) makig a referral to a local agecy or private practitioer, or (3) cotiuig services from established treatmet providers. Please ote that attedig this appoitmet does ot establish the studet as a cliet of the CSDC but merely assists him/her i makig appropriate metal health decisios. For more iformatio, please visit A little plaig ca pay divideds dow the road. Best wishes for a successful first semester ad future career at James Madiso Uiversity. M 6 Family Coectio

7 Roommates, coflict, ad resolutios O e of the biggest fears of comig to college for the first time is ot gettig alog with a roommate. While the may differet people who live together i college make the experiece etirely uique, this commuity livig experiece ca be oe of the most difficult aspects of college. The good ews is that this challege ca help studets to lear to uderstad each other, ad may develop them ito more effective colleagues or supervisors i the world after college. Through JMU s Office of Residece Life, resources are available to help studets avigate their ew livig situatio. Sometimes studets go out of their way to fid someoe they already kow to be their roommate to avoid the dreaded radom roommate. This allays the iitial fear, but it does t guaratee a good roommate situatio. Great frieds, ufortuately, do t always equal great roommates. Eve at age 17 or 18, frieds do t always commuicate their eeds or wats as effectively as they could. I a effort to be friedly or helpful, some studets put aside their eeds to accommodate their room buddy. Puttig aside eeds or wats ca work i the short term, but evetually, studets ca start to feel frustrated. Whe such a coflict emerges, it is almost always both studets who feel this way they just have t discussed their eeds ad they have t come to ay agreemet. Does it have to be so tough? No, it does t. May studets get alog well ad they do t have a serious coflict the whole academic year. However, some roommate pairigs experiece coflict because of differeces. Whe this occurs, the followig resources ca help your studet get through the coflicts that may arise. The first of these is the residet adviser. The RA is a studet who lives i the sectio or floor with your studet. The RA will itroduce him/herself to each residet o the floor ad offer a ear ad advice to ay studets who are havig trouble adjustig to college life. This adjustmet icludes uderstadig ad gettig alog with a roommate s habits, lifestyle ad persoality. Next, the RA gives each roommate (ad suitemate) a Roommate Agreemet Form (or Suitemate Agreemet Form). This form asks 15 specific questios about sharig persoal items, oise levels, sleep times, study times, message takig ad other commo roommate issues. These are the biggies that cause coflicts. The RA will try to avoid such coflicts by havig the roommates discuss them the first week of school. If the studets take the coversatio seriously, they ca figure out each other s eeds ad wats before havig a argumet or a move out. So, if all the studets complete these forms, why are there still coflicts? Perhaps oe of the participats did t aswer hoestly. Maybe the problem they are facig is t o the sheet or they ever actually aswered the questios. What happes the? The RA will go to that room with the Roommate Agreemet (or a ew oe if they did t do it) ad help the residets figure out what is causig the issue ad how they ca resolve it. RAs are traied to do this very early i the year, ad it ca help! Here s where you ca help. This is a ew situatio for your studet (usually). They are goig away from home ad are goig to be livig with a ew perso (eve if it is their best fried, this is a ew situatio). Talk to your so or daughter about how they are goig to commuicate their room wats ad eeds ad ecourage them to be serious i completig the Roommate Agreemet Form. Secodly, if your so or daughter fids himself or herself i a roommate coflict, ecourage him/her to see the RA to ask for roommate coflict mediatio. Learig how to deal with coflict is a valuable skill that they will use throughout the rest of their lives. The residece life staff looks forward to parterig with you i helpig your studet make this major trasitio i his or her life. If you have questios or cocers about housig ad residece life, please call (540) for housig questios ad/or (540) for iformatio about mediatio, RAs ad roommate coflict. M Ecourage your studet to atted Iformatio Night by Matt Baroe Every fall ad sprig semester, Studet Orgaizatio Services sposors Studet Orgaizatio Night or SON, a fu-filled fair for studets to lear about the more tha 300 clubs ad orgaizatios o campus. This fall, SON will be held o Tuesday, Sept. 4, from 5-8 p.m. SON is held both i the fall ad sprig semesters as a opportuity for studets to fid ways to get ivolved i co-curricular activities ragig from sport clubs to professioal ad social fraterities/sororities, ad academically affiliated orgaizatios to various groups focusig o a commo bod or activity. Studet Orgaizatio Services maitais regular cotact with all of the more tha 300 studet orgaizatios recogized through its office. I order to be recogized, each orgaizatio must have a missio statemet that is i lie with the uiversity s missio. These orgaizatios offer uique opportuities for all studets ad ca be as valuable ad educatioal as the classroom experiece. I case of a emergecy... The JMU Emergecy Respose ad Recovery Team has idetified multiple commuicatio methods to be used by JMU durig a emergecy. They are: cell phoe emergecy alerts, which iclude text ad voice messagig; blast messages, which ca be set ad received withi miutes; a campus sire system with voice directio; the uiversity Web page; off-campus reverse 911 alerts; loudspeakers i each campus police patrol vehicle local televisio, radio ad ewspapers. fall

8 A ew Family Coectio The ew Madiso Family Coectio e-ewsletter is iformative, helpful, ad FREE Sig up today by registerig at The ewsletter provides JMU parets ad families with iformatio o campus evets, vacatio ad break schedules, paymet due dates, deadlie remiders ad tips for studet success. Future issues of The Madiso Family Coectio ewsletter will be set to the paret that JMU has o file. If you would prefer to have the ewsletter mailed to you, please sed your address to kitetl@jmu. edu, or paret@jmu.edu, or call (540) or (866) Family Weeked (cot.) Family Weeked Iformatio Brochures were mailed o July 26 to studetreported home addresses. View the brochure olie ( Family_Weeked.shtml). To get a brochure after Sept. 1 or for more iformatio, please cotact the Office of Paret Relatios at (540) or (866) or paret@jmu.edu. Ticket Iformatio Tickets for all evets sell quickly. Order early. See the order forms i the brochure or order tickets olie at The football game o Family Weeked is sold out ad Family ad frieds ejoy the Family Weeked festivities. tickets will ot be available o game day. A limited umber of studet tickets will be available for pickup (oe per studet) startig the Moday prior to the game (9/24/07). For more iformatio please cotact the JMU Athletics Ticket Office at (540) or visit Parkig Plety of parkig spaces will be available at the Covocatio Ceter (I-81 Exit 245), which is oly a short walk to all activities. Special parkig is available for vehicles with DMV-issued hadicapped licese plates or permits. Please cotact the JMU parkig office at (540) for more iformatio. Accommodatios Do t give up if you fid area hotels ad motels already filled. As Family Weeked draws earer, reew your efforts to make reservatios as, ivariably, plas chage ad room reservatios are cacelled. Access the accommodatios listig at parets/accommodatios.shtml. Tue i whe you roll i Tue your radio to AM 1610 for up-to-date parkig iformatio ad ay last-miute chages i the weeked s itierary. Divisio of Uiversity Advacemet FIRST CLASS U.S. Postage Paid Harrisoburg, Virgiia Permit No. 4 MSC Uiversity Boulevard Harrisoburg, VA Chage Service Requested Office of Paret Relatios 220 Uiversity Blvd., MSC 3605 Harrisoburg, VA (540)