The Office of Residential Life is considering a reduction in the number of rounds for the spring room selection process and also recreating the lottery system so more rising sophomores can live on campus.

The Room Task Selection Force, a committee made up of five administrators and 15 students, worked over the past two months to create recommendations for the room selection process. Although the committee has not finalized any of its recommendations, one of its top priorities was to reduce the number of rounds in the selection process.

“We want to make the process simple,” said Rob Wild, assistant director of Residential Life. “There were too many rounds last year.”

The committee is considering this change in response to feedback from students who were frustrated by the process.

“One predominant pattern in the feedback we received was the sentiment that the process was much too complex,” said Wild.

The committee also considered decreasing the number of upcoming sophomores placed in housing during the administrative round, where individuals who have not been placed through seven rounds are placed by administrators wherever there are open spots at on-campus locations.

Last spring, about 200 students, mostly freshmen, were not assigned in the nine-round selection process. Residential Life required unassigned students still wanting rooms on the South 40 to sign a contract, though they did not receive housing assignments until the summer.

The large number of upcoming sophomores placed in the administrative round resulted from the class-based lottery system, which gave priority to upperclassmen by assigning them lower lottery numbers. Upperclassmen tended to get placed, while rising sophomores with higher lottery numbers were at a higher risk of not being placed.

The committee, however, is not planning on giving upcoming sophomores priority in next year’s housing process.

“It was the recommendation of the Room Selection Task Force that lower lottery numbers still be assigned to those who have lived on campus the longest,” said Wild.

Instead, the Room Selection Task Force pointed out that many upperclassmen are interested in off-campus university-owned properties, but find the process of applying for these locations inconvenient. According to Wild, these apartments are assigned through Parkview Properties, a private company that manages all Washington University owned off-campus housing. He said that because students find it inconvenient to apply with Parkview, they decide to stay on the South 40.

Shalmali Talwalkar, a current sophomore who received her housing assignment during the administrative round, agreed with the decision to make moving off campus easier and more attractive for upperclassmen.

“Upperclassmen, especially juniors and seniors, are more familiar with campus and the surrounding area,” said Talwalker. “They can more easily accommodate in the off-campus apartments.”

The committee recommended that Residential Life handle the assignments in Rosedale and Greenway, two apartment complexes currently assigned through Parkview properties.

“By assigning these spaces through our office, we would ideally place interested upperclassmen in these spaces instead of having them occupy spaces in the South 40, leaving room for more current freshmen to find on-campus housing for their sophomore year,” said Wild.

According to Herbie Markwort, a sophomore, reducing the number of students in the administrative round would save many freshmen a great deal of anxiety.

“I received my housing assignment right before the beginning of the finals week,” he said. “All that time I was anxious about the kind of assignment they would give me.”

Wild said that while the move would not eliminate the administrative round entirely, it would at least decrease the number of students participating in this round.

The Room Selection Task Force will finalize its recommendations for the process by November 12 and present them to a number of groups on campus, including the Resident Student Advisory Board. Residential Life will determine the final room selection process, which will be available by late November and early December on Residential Life’s website.

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