After the housing lottery, some selective living groups were in the market for better housing.
InCube, JAM!, Chi Psi fraternity and Delta Sigma Phi fraternity have all engaged in successful section swaps. In the two weeks following the Oct. 25 housing lottery for next year, Housing, Dining and Residence Life allowed groups seeking a different section to exchange with another group as long as the trade was mutual, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residence life. All of the exchanges had to be approved by HDRL.
After swapping with Jam!, InCube—assigned 1915 Yearby Ave. on Central Campus in the lottery—will instead retain its current section at 205 Alexander Ave. under the house model next Fall.
InCube was unhappy with its original housing assignment because it recently invested about $25,000 in its current common room on Alexander Avenue. JAM! was assigned this location in the October lottery, so InCube entered trading negotiations with them immediately after the housing lottery.
“There were no problems at all,” said JAM! President Elizabeth Clark, a junior. “Everyone at InCube was hoping that we’d switch with [JAM!], and when I brought the idea back to JAM!, everyone was really enthusiastic about it.”
HDRL approved the second housing trade with similar success.
After the lottery, Chi Psi fraternity approached Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and showed an interest in trading sections, said Delta Sigma Phi President Zach Sperling, a junior. Delta Sigma Phi was originally assigned to Edens Quadrangle 3B, and Chi Psi was assigned to Craven Quadrangle B.
“While [Edens] is a great place to live, it is somewhat removed from the rest of campus,” Sperling wrote in an email Thursday. “We were quite pleased with where [Chi Psi] section was. It was a mutually beneficial trade.”
Chi Psi President Matt Straus, a senior, declined to comment.
“Overall, [trading] was a smooth process,” Sperling said. “[Gonzalez and Donna Lisker, associate dean of undergraduate education and co-chair of the House Model committee,] were very accommodating and put a lot of time into making sure trades went smoothly after housing was chosen”.
The swapping process was not without controversy, however, as rumors of groups offering bribes for a new section circulated.
The day following the housing lottery, both administrators and students reported that an SLG was attempting to use large sums of money to convince another group to trade housing, Gonzalez said, adding that he did not know which SLGs were involved.
“In that time period, [the deal] never came to fruition,” he said. “We are convinced that neither [of the two approved trades] involved funds in any way, shape or form.”
Gonzalez said he is unaware of any further incidents involving bribery in the house-trading process.
In an email Oct. 28 to several student leaders—including Panhellenic Association President Jenny Ngo, a senior; Interfraternity Council President Zach Prager, a senior; and Mirecourt President Dani Roselius, also a senior—Gonzalez said any trade agreements involving the exchange of money would not be approved.
“This behavior contradicts the intent and spirit of the opportunity the Duke Houses committee offered groups at this point of the process, an opportunity only considered because several student voices advocated for this chance,” Gonzalez wrote in the email. “Eliminating the opportunity for a trade was considered, but we hate to punish all involved for the actions of a very few.”
The deadline to trade houses was Oct. 31.
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