The new upperclass residential life plan begins to take concrete shape this week as undergraduates choose their housing for next year, and administrators hurry to make sure the revised process goes smoothly.
The selection process will follow the new housing policies, including the requirement that all sophomores live on West Campus, the linking of freshman dorms to West quads, the offering of Trent Drive Hall rooms as singles and the opening of the West-Edens Link this fall.
Altogether, administrators hope the changes will improve the upperclass living experience, the first step of which is this week's housing selection.
Administrators said they have not yet had a chance to examine how the week will shape up. They are looking at, for example, how many rising sophomores have chosen the linked option, what interest there will be in Trent and whether selective living groups will successfully fill their sections. Students received their lottery numbers Friday.
"This was not a break week for us at all. We haven't had much of a chance to do a lot of analysis," said Bill Burig, assistant dean of student development. "We've been going non-stop since the HOUSe forms were completed with finalizing all the details."
Also under the new residential plan, all students beginning with the Class of 2004 will be required to live on campus for three years. Burig said the policy will not be strictly enforced until the Class of 2005, when students will have to live on campus for three consecutive years. All members of the Class of 2004 who requested a release from the policy received one, Burig said, although he would not say how many students made that request.
This week's room selection will also determine how many rising juniors will be denied West housing. Because sophomores have guaranteed housing on West and seniors have priority, juniors may be squeezed off West. Each quad will have a certain number of beds reserved for sophomores, and once the remaining rooms are chosen, students with lower lottery numbers will have to find other housing.
Sophomore Jen DiPiero, who hopes to live on West next year, said the policy is unfair to the Class of 2004. She said her lottery number is probably good enough to live on West, but that many of her friends are worried.
"I would have liked to see them phase [sophomores on West] in. It just really hurts our class," she said.
Administrators have said that having all sophomores on West is a necessity to improve upperclass life.
The selection process has been shortened this year to 10 days--down from two weeks. Administrators said they hope the change will lessen the burden on students.
Some students said they still expect the process to be somewhat hectic.
"I have no real problems with the system. It's always going to be difficult no matter what," said junior David Green.
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