Getting a bad lottery number in the drawing for ResLife housing is not an enviable situation. One of the results of getting a high number is often moving off campus. This is not because the student did not want to live in ResLife housing, rather, the student just had bad luck and was not able to live where he or she wanted to. Unfortunately, this is essentially the last time the student will be able to live in ResLife housing, as the following year, that student is not assigned a lottery number. The housing selection process is unfair to upperclassmen who, for one reason or another, choose to live off campus, and it needs to be reformed.

There are legitimate reasons to want to move back on-campus after moving off-campus for a year. In addition to moving off-campus to deal with a high lottery number, students can decide to come back to campus because of safety concerns, for example. With the way the housing system is currently set up, students in situations like these have very little recourse. It is almost impossible for them to get desirable on-campus housing the following year, and they would be forced off-campus yet again.

According to Cheryl Stephens, associate director of ResLife, the reason that students who choose to live off-campus cannot reenter the lottery with their class is an issue of space. “We just simply don’t have enough beds to let people back into our process,” Stephens said. We understand that this is not an easy problem for ResLife to solve but the current housing selection system only amplifies the problem.

The decision to move off-campus is effectively a permanent one, as it does not allow students to change their minds. In turn, this can add to the problem.

Students afraid of not being able to get back on campus may choose to stay on campus if they are not sure about leaving ResLife housing. If they knew the possibility of going back to ResLife housing was still open, they would be more willing to try living off-campus and seeing if they like it. But because of how the system is set up now, students who are positive about living on campus, but decided to live off campus the year before end up stuck off campus.

Students who live off-campus should be allowed to participate in the lottery the following year if they would like to, without getting pushed to the bottom of the heap. By giving such students lottery numbers, it would afford them to change their mind the following year. This is a right that students should have. ResLife tries to give students the best housing possible. Sometimes, students would rather forego ResLife housing and find other options. And sometimes, these students regret their decision. In trying to make sure students can have the best housing possible, they should be allowed back into the ResLife housing process.

ResLife responded admirably to the freshman housing crunch at the beginning of the year, and they achieved another success with the approval of a mixed-gender housing trial run. ResLife should not be complacent though, and they should try to fix the current selection system so that all students can have the opportunity to live where they want.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Forum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.