Ryan NorrisExtending from the clear glass doors of the Residence Life office, down the hall and around the bend in front of the art studio, stood groups of anxious freshmen, sophomores and juniors.
Many stood in groups, ready to pick a number for the housing lottery. Their hopes lie in a brown paper bag, which held shredded pieces of paper containing housing lottery numbers. The goal; gather together, go in as a group of prospective roommates and then pick a number out of the bag, hoping it was the lowest number possible in order to get their first choice of housing.
“The housing process is a two-way street,” Amanda Popovitch, a sophomore and political science major, said. “It’s great if you show up at the last minute and get a great number, like I happened too, but it’s not so great if you waited in that line for an hour during your lunch break and get number 250.”
Freshmen, sophomores and juniors submitted their intent to return housing forms last semester and returned on Feb. 1 and 2 to select their lottery number based on their class. Each class has a different set of numbers to choose from. The next step in the process is to fill out the housing preference form, which is due by Feb. 11 at 4 p.m.
“After we receive all the housing preference forms, we will place students in housing, starting with current freshman,” Laura Shapella, assistant director of Residence Life, said. “Sophomores are placed next, followed by juniors.”
If they receive placement, students will be notified in writing of their housing assignment by Thursday, Feb. 24. Students then have the choice to accept or decline the their placement. If the placement is accepted, the student must send their housing agreement and a $350 housing deposit to the Residence Life office by Friday, March 11.
In the event that a student declines his or her placement, he or she forfeits their spot and can choose to find housing off campus or be placed on the waiting list. Also, those who do not receive placement are placed on a waiting list, or can choose to look for off campus housing.
“I think it’s really appalling that the seniors are being told they have possibly no housing next year,” Jessica Kolinsky, junior psychology, sociology and criminal justice major, said. “I’m not sure what I am doing about housing as of this point.”
“It is our desire to house all students who ask for housing.” Shapella said. “Seniors are already thinking of graduation, getting a job or going to grad school and have a better understanding of what to expect when living in an apartment or house off campus. Therefore, if we have to ask anyone to live off-campus, we feel better asking rising seniors to do so. We want to house as many seniors as we possibly can.”
A new residence hall is being constructed between House 7 and the CAC building that will be ready for the 2006-07 academic year.
Not all students are concerned about the housing selection lottery this year. “The housing process is going well for me.” Pat Jordan, a sophomore political science major, said. “They ran it well. If I don’t get either [of my top choices] then I’ll probably live off-campus.”
Most, however, do not feel the same way.
“I think it’s not an adequate process and it sucks that there is no kind of seniority in the process,” sophomore Nikki Sabella, English and communication major, said.
“If students do not get housed and decide to live off-campus instead of remaining on the wait list, we can provide them with information on off-campus landlords,” Shapella said.
Posted to the web by Ryan Norris
