When something works, leave it be.
Each year, the College evaluates how well its administrative processes functioned. For the room selection process, the administration feels it has found a well-oiled and straightforward system that only needed to be tweaked so lightly, no one would notice the tweaks, said Steven O’Day, senior associate dean of the College.
As upperclassmen will know, the process consists of four “phases” in which different groups of students select housing.
The first phase has already ended. Rising seniors and juniors renewed existing leases in College Hill, College Row, and James Street Properties.
“We are now in the middle of the second phase, which is all about theme housing,” O’Day said. “All classes except incoming freshmen are invited to apply for beds in the various James Street Properties, which include the Arts House, French House, and the Sustainability House, as well as many others. Those students who fall under this category and have not been contacted will receive an e-mail to that effect very soon.”
Simultaneously, Greek houses are compiling and confirming lists of residents for the 2010-2011 school year.
The third phase will be the lottery phase. Randomly assigned lottery numbers are issued by e-mail to all rising juniors and seniors, with priority given to seniors who have not already been placed in any of the aforementioned properties. These numbers are used in an online selection process, which gives these students access to all unfilled beds in the College Houses, Theme Houses, College Hill Apartments, College Row Apartments, and the James Street Properties.
Students participating in this leg must “pull in” other students to their chosen housing option.
“Say if I want a three person apartment, I’ll have to put down two other names at the time I reserve it or else I won’t get that apartment,” O’Day explained.
According to O’Day, this will most likely occur in late March, but is subject to change depending on the other phases.
Lastly, after space has been set aside for the incoming first-year class, rising sophomores begin their very own lottery process, which is overseen by the prefects in each house.
“It should be noted that each of the four College Houses holds a separate lottery; that is, if someone in Bonchek receives a lottery number, no one in the other houses should necessarily receive a number in the same time period,” O’Day said. “They all work independently of one another.”
Beds in Weis and Thomas Residence Halls are exclusively for sophomores and are broken up according to House affiliation. Warians and Bonchekers filter into Weis, while members of Schnader and Brooks go to Thomas.
Room types differ between the buildings: Thomas only offers four and five person suites, whereas Weis has doubles and singles in addition to some suites.
Dietz Residence Hall is also being considered as a “quiet” living option for sophomores. It was identified as substance-free living in the past but this year it was simply for sophomore overflow.
“Its identification will depend on perceived student demand for such an option,” O’Day said.
While the process will remain the same for the 2010 room selection, it could potentially have phases tweaked and re-ordered for 2011 selection. By then, Weis will have evolved into its own House and the yet-to-be-named new College House will be open to students of all class years.
First-year Lauren Bejzak is a staff writer. Her e-mail is lbejzak@fandm.edu.
