In response to numerous complaints from the student body, Ashoka, the Washington University South Asian students association that puts on the show Diwali, recently confirmed that it will change the method for distributing tickets to the show.

Diwali, the annual “celebration of lights” festival, is among the most successful cultural shows during the school year. It is held in Edison Theatre every fall semester.

Tickets to the mid-November event are highly sought after, and in most cases, are quickly sold out after ticket sales begin. Every year numerous people who want to attend the show are left out.

In previous years, students camped out in front of the Edison Theatre box office for hours to get tickets to the shows.

According to Manjaap Sidhu, the public relations chair for Ashoka, a new system of distributing tickets to Diwali, announced on Oct. 16, was devised with the help of Edison Theatre Operations Manager Bill Larson.

With the new system, every residential adviser must turn in a complete interdepartmental purchase order (IPO) on Nov. 2 between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m to an Ashoka representative standing at the bottom of the grand staircase in the Danforth University Center.

The IPO must contain the Residential Advisor’s (RA) name, phone number, the total number of tickets, total amount of money and show choices.

A lottery will then be used to decide the order in which RA tickets are distributed. Turning in an IPO earlier or later within the given time frame will not increase or decrease the chances of receiving tickets. Ashoka will randomly select RAs until all but twenty-three seats are filled for each of Diwali’s three showings.

RAs must go to the Edison Theatre Box Office after 1 p.m. on Nov. 6 to see whether they were selected for tickets in the lottery.

“If they were selected from the lottery, that RA will get an envelope of the tickets they requested. If that RA did not get selected from the lottery, he or she will have their IPO returned to them,” Sidhu wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “Again, the time at which you come to the box office does not affect whether or not you get tickets and every RA that turned in an IPO must come to the box office, whether or not they got tickets.”

If an RA is not selected in the lottery, their residents must buy tickets set aside for the general public on Nov. 7.

Students however, have criticized these ticket distribution changes, saying that it is unfair that RAs are the first to have access to the tickets and that the general student population is allotted a minimal number of tickets.

“Just when I thought it couldn’t get any harder to get tickets,” junior Nick Burns said. “Since I fall into the general public, where’s the guarantee that I can even get a ticket? There’s not much room for the rest of us.”

Additionally, in the past, students have also complained about the long lines associated with purchasing Diwali tickets.

Ashoka believes the new “Diwali lottery” will help to alleviate the long lines for those living within Residential Life housing. Those who are not living within ResLife housing will have to stand in line as in years past.

Students have recommended that Ashoka further investigate other methods of distribution, particularly online ticket distribution.

Online ticket distribution, however, is against Edison Theatre policy and consequently is not a method that will be considered.

“We understand that a need for reform has been constantly demanded. After talking things over, we believe this slight change with the lottery tickets will ease the situation,” Sidhu said.