Typical of many in the sophomore class, Greg Williams ’04 said that he doesn’t know where or with whom he is living next year.
“In general, there’s not much going up around campus to let students know what to do,” Williams said.
The reason for this confusion is simple-the lottery process has not been started yet, due to changes in the lottery system.
According to Director of Housing Gary Stephenson, however, a plan is in motion to begin the lottery process by the end of this month and to have spots filled by Apr. 10.
In contrast to last year, this year’s lottery will assign each student a number and will then accept group applications. Each group of students will be ordered according to the lowest, or best, number within the group.
Previously, students were required to apply for housing as a group, and were then assigned a lottery number as a group.
“We hope that this change in the lottery gives students more choices,” Stephenson said.
The process will begin when a tentative list is posted in the Barone Campus Center that includes the names of all students considered for on-campus housing. Students will be given a period of time to check the list and notify housing if the list is inaccurate.
According to Stephenson, a modified list with names and their respective lottery numbers will be posted about a week later, “hopefully by Feb 25.”
Students would then have until Mar. 12 to submit their group application, and each group would be ordered according to the student with the lowest number, which would be the best number.
“Let’s say that you get number 2 and your roommates are numbers 23 and 24, then your group would be the second group to select a place to live,” Stephenson said.
Students, when asked, were not aware of the change in policy, but they seemed to like it.
“If we all have the same friends, we can trade around roommates [to get the best housing situation],” said Chrissie Mayr ’05.
Brie Zimmerman ’04, wants a townhouse, and she says she has already selected her housemates. “If I traded housemates, I wouldn’t have any housemates,” she said.
After all housing groups have submitted their forms, a meeting will be scheduled for each class of students to select their residence for the fall.
Stephenson said that he has tentatively scheduled the class of ’03 to select their housing on Mar. 26, and the class of ’04 on Mar. 27.
A separate meeting will be conducted for all single-room applicants and “theme floor” applicants on April 4.
A general upperclassmen lottery will be held on Apr. 9, and freshmen will select their housing on Apr. 10.
This year’s housing lottery process has been hampered by a number of issues, including a crunch caused by a growing student population, a study concerning a possible boost in students required at a townhouse, and a debate over giving housing privileges to those students that have higher grade-point-averages or hold certain leadership officer roles. None of these concerns have been completely resolved, according to Stephenson. “If we can get it done sooner, we will,” Stephenson said.
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