Next year's housing plan will not be much different from the one that provoked an outpouring of student anger last year, Assistant Dean of Residence Life Bill Burig revealed at Thursday's Campus Council meeting.
The plan features changes to the lottery process geared toward ensuring that seniority continues to be a factor in housing, but it also allows other factors to influence the lottery through revisions to the point-based system. The lottery process has been altered from the past system of assigning point values from one to four based on class; points will now be assigned on a scale of one to seven based on class, previous experience living on West Campus and whether a student requests to return to the same quad.
"The point system is well thought out, and even though it's more complex, I think it ultimately provides students with better options," said Campus Council President Andrew Nurkin.
The new system aims to satisfy seniors who have never lived on West Campus by offering them the highest priority in the lottery. Moreover, for rising sophomores, requesting linked housing with the rest of their freshman dorm will increase their odds of getting their rooms of choice.
In the case of requested roommate pairings, the roommates' point values will be averaged. Those who end up with the same point values are randomly ordered.
In another change, all rooms and apartments - except for three-bedroom apartments on Central Campus - will now be offered for lottery selection simultaneously. Students will not have separate lotteries for different campuses.
A common complaint from last spring's lottery dealt with the decision to reserve some single rooms for sophomores at the expense of juniors and seniors. Some administrators later criticized the decision, calling it a mistake, and the lottery has been changed this year. West Campus singles will no longer be reserved for sophomores.
Aside from changes to the housing lottery, most key provisions of the housing plan will remain the same, as was expected. The requirement to live on campus for three years remains in effect, all sophomores will continue to be housed on West Campus and sophomores will only be allowed to request block housing with other sophomores. The location of selective living groups off the Main West quad will remain unaltered.
"This is a transitional period for both students and the administration," said sophomore Kate Hansen, an ad hoc member of Campus Council. "They're trying to get the greatest number of students their first choice and to minimize the chance that students feel like they are left without options. I think all of us are trying to work through our options and it's a complex process."
Next year's plan does not feature any changes to the linked housing system that assigns rising sophomores, if they choose, to housing based on their freshman dorms. The decision is likely to disappoint Southgate Dormitory residents, who will continue to have a remote location next year when they are linked to Edens Quadrangle.
"The linking is still up in the air. It will take several years to figure out whether this builds the type of community that we are looking for," Nurkin said. "The current system is less than ideal, but giving it another year to take root is probably wise."
Campus Council members said that, while the plan was not perfect, it was at least a step in the right direction.
"This is the first step in a long process. The plan that is in place for next year is pretty similar to this year's plan," Nurkin said. "It is the job of Campus Council and the administration to come up with a plan that will meet all the demands of the student body."
Burig declined to comment further following Thursday night's meeting.
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