Residence Life and Housing Services officials presented the new evaluation process for selective living groups to group representatives Sunday night.
The Annual Assessment, which was previously referred to as the Selective Community Assessment, is developed by students, faculty and RLHS staff, and evaluates all residential groups on their contributions to both their groups and the Duke community.
This year's assessment, however, has not yet been finalized, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean of residence life.
"The process itself is done and ready to be presented to the groups," Gonzalez said. "Most of the changes left are what I'd call nuances."
The assessment is split into two categories-fundamental and supplemental.
All groups will be judged against the criteria listed under the fundamental category. Groups can also choose four out of eight total criteria from the supplemental category in which they will be evaluated.
"We wanted to give all groups the opportunity to incorporate their group's mission into the assessment," Gonzalez said, regarding the supplemental category.
Some students expressed apprehension about how different group missions will be accommodated by the evaluation.
"There's a concern that groups may conform to this process rather than having groups evaluated as individuals," said junior Drew Hoffman, vice president of Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
Officials said the diversity of the groups was considered when forming the assessment.
"We made the criteria as broad as possible and we took everyone's different missions into account so all the groups can succeed," said senior Geordy Horton, Interfraternity Council vice president of chapter services.
"I don't see groups conforming to fit this-instead it will illustrate all the good things the groups are doing already," he added. Others said the assessment provides a good means of evaluation.
"Having watched it develop, I think the entire process is a very fair and very necessary process," said Roundtable President Dave Garver, a junior. "The norm right now is for groups to operate without supervision-[the assessment] process ensures groups are held responsible for their actions."
Group housing assignments will be determined every three years by the Summary Assessment, which is based on the average results from the Annual Assessment.
The first three-year cycle will run from Spring 2007 to Fall 2009.
Residential groups are split into three categories according to size, ranging from 16 to 48 bed spaces, to accommodate for the different resources available, Gonzalez explained.
Those who score well in the Summary Assessment can choose to squat-stay in the same location-or enter a housing lottery in which the order is based on scores. Each of the top scorers of the small- and middle-sized groups will have the opportunity to expand their group sizes.
Most students said housing sections are an appropriate reward for groups that are contributing to the community.
Others, however, were worried the evaluation process would create an unnecessary sense of competition between groups.
"Competition is there to ensure when movement happens it's a meritocratic system but not arbitrary," said Horton, a member of the committee that developed the assessment. "It is not designed for groups to compete destructively against each other."
All groups will be evaluated by the Residential Group Assessment Committee, which will consist of representatives from Campus Council, IFC, the Selective House Council and the groups' respective quadrangle councils, and will be supervised by Deb Lo Biondo, assistant dean for residence life on West Campus.
"It is a student-driven assessment, a lot of things are up to them to decide," Gonzalez said. "It's a form of shared governance, a way to give students decision-making abilities, authority and responsibility."
Horton said a decision on how membership of the RGAC should be balanced will be made this week.
"Students should feel reassured that they are being judged by peers," he added.
Members of the RGAC will work as liaisons to groups, meeting with them twice a year to gauge the groups' progress and future goals.
Evaluation results for each group will be published every November for the previous January to December cycle, Gonzalez said, noting that the first assessment is already underway.
"You're all on the clock," he said.
Groups must present a draft of their Community Plan-which outlines their goals for the next calendar year and states which criteria in the supplemental category they would like to be assessed by-to RGAC every February. This year, the plan will be due Feb. 26.
Junior David Popkin, treasurer of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, said that because the new assessment is presented to the groups in the spring instead of the fall, the groups are put under a lot of pressure.
"A lot of us already passed our budget for the year," Popkin said. "Without the committee set up, we're expected to plan the entire year without knowing how we will be judged."
Campus Council President Jay Ganatra, a senior and a member of the committee that developed the assessment, said groups do not need to worry.
"It is only a guidance document-the committee will look at it and let them know what we're looking for," Ganatra said, noting that groups have until late March to change the criteria on which they decide to be judged.
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