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Tuesday, February 26, 2002

By Carmen J. Lee Post-Gazette Education Writer

When Andrew Latus wants to watch TV, he can switch from a computer game to a television program using the same 19-inch monitor.

The audio comes to him through a six-speaker, surround-sound system that is also part of his entertainment center, which includes a stereo, Nintendo 64 and VCR and DVD players.

	Matthew Fischer, left, and Andrew Latus in their Pitt dorm room with some of the necessities of a modern college student's life. (Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette)

And that's just his side of the pie-slice-shaped, 16-foot-by-12-foot-by-10-foot dorm room at the University of Pittsburgh.

On the other side, his roommate, Matthew Fischer, has a 23-inch television, computer, CD-tape player and PlayStation and X-Box game systems.

Rounding out the room's accouterments, which include posters of actress Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider" and John Belushi guzzling beer in "Animal House," are a microwave and small refrigerator.

It's a good thing they have bunk beds.

"You get tired of staring at books all day," said Latus, 19, a freshman majoring in computer engineering. Surveying his electronic Valhalla, he said, "This is for when you just need a break from things."

Fischer, 18, a freshman chemical engineering major, agreed, adding that their room was a good place to relax "after a hard day of classes" and when he's bored.

Gone are the days when a well-equipped dorm room was one with a television set, small refrigerator and a decent-sized stereo that played albums and audio tapes.

In this high-tech age, it's the low-tech dorm room that has just a television, refrigerator and stereo.

Typewriters have been replaced by computers with printers and faxes. Microwaves are a must. DVD players are becoming almost routine.

And it's standard at most local colleges and universities to have dorm rooms wired for Internet and cable access, often for each person assigned to a room.

"Just about anything you can find in Best Buy shows up in students' rooms and often in pairs," said Tim Michael, director of housing services for Carnegie Mellon University. "We're waiting to see what the next electronic gadget will be because it'll be in their rooms if they can bring it with them."

John Michalenko, dean of students at Robert Morris University, said that in addition to the microwaves and computers and stereo equipment, some Robert Morris students have been known to add bread-makers and blenders to their dorm room fixtures.

"I'm just amazed that the kids are able to get all the stuff in the rooms," he said. "But they seem to do a pretty good job."

Among local campuses, it's probably not surprising that the degree of dorm room gadgetry follows some stereotypes.

Women's colleges such as Carlow and Chatham tend to be more conservative. Officials said female students are not known for equipping their rooms too elaborately, and the rooms place more limitations on their ability to do so.

At Chatham, for example, each student has her own Internet connection in her dorm room, but the only places the women can watch cable TV are the student lounges.

Dorm rooms on co-ed campuses have a wider range of equipment, particularly among male students and those majoring in computer-related subjects.

Such students also tend to be more innovative with computer modifications and wiring. Carnegie Mellon senior Ben Stolt, 23, for instance, hooked together his 27-inch television and his computer with its 17-inch monitor.

That way the electrical and computer engineering major can use his computer DVD player with his television set, and his VCR with his computer monitor.

Michael said so much creative wiring has been done at Carnegie Mellon that in some older residence halls there have been problems with power outages when students used several computers running several printers.

Many local colleges have upgraded their campus housing with wiring for cable and Internet access over the past five to 10 years.

The new array of study and entertainment technology in student rooms doesn't mean the students only venture outside for classes, though.

Despite the hours of computer-game playing, Latus insisted that he and his dorm friends spend plenty of time hanging out at other spots on campus.

"It's not like we just sit in our holes," he said.

Rob Goode, general manager for Fuel and Fuddle and a 1998 Pitt grad, remembers having a fairly well-equipped dorm room with a stereo, VCR, PlayStation and an assortment of video games.

But he believes that then and now, college students have to escape the feeling of confinement within most dorm rooms, regardless of what electronic attractions they hold.

"No matter what you put in your dorm, it's still a dorm room," Goode said. "You're going to have the feeling of being locked up, and you have to get out."