Screw Your Roommate

From CarlWiki

Screw Your Roommate (SYR), officially called Set Up Your Roommate, is a Carleton tradition that occurs once every Fall Term, in which roommates are given the option to set each other up on blind dates. These "screw dates" receive cards in their mailboxes that assign them matching codenames. At a time given on the card, the people participating go to Sayles and try to find their match. For example, person A may be "Peanut Butter," looking for person B, "Jelly." After the dates have found their matches, they can partake in any of several Screw-oriented weekend events or plan their own date.

Events available to the couples typically include a capella and improv comedy performances, and a dance sponsored by the Rugcutters.

Name controversy

The event was officially called "Screw Your Roommate" for some time. However, due to the various implications of the word "screw," all college publications now refer to the event as "Set Up Your Roommate," a term rarely used by students.

Although students use the word "screw" to refer to the event, they do so in a purely joking manner. SYR is, in reality, a very innocent event; dates involve fun, college-sponsored activities and generally end in friendship, although some relationships do result. In other words, very few people involved actually feel "screwed" by their roommate.

Similar events

Another event similar to Screw Your Roommate was "Computer Date Night," a CSA-sponsored social event first held in the mid-1960s when Carleton and St. Olaf jointly owned and operated a single computer. Students devised a questionnaire and a simple program to attempt to identify compatibility issues and match people on those issues. People familiar with the arcane skill of punching cards on Key Punch machines, created decks of IBM punch cards to input the data to the computer. Men would receive a numbered invitation to appear at one of the women's dormitory sitting rooms and meet their computer dates. While spectating was discouraged, large crowds of slowly appearing and departing people were usually present.

Not long after the beginning of this annual event, men and women began organizing betting pools to be won by the person with the least desirable date. (Judging was done by a large jury of peers.) Not long after that, people began filling out questionnaires for their roommates and special friends and pressuring them to follow through with the computer dates.