Room retention policy may change

One goal of the change is to encourage students to remain in the college houses as upperclassmen. Students looking to retain their on-campus room, change to another room in the same dormitory or request community living in another building may have to consider their choices more carefully, following the release of newly-proposed procedures for next year's upperclass room selection in the college houses. With the stated goals of encouraging "students to remain in their [College] House" and maximizing occupancy, the department of housing services drafted a revised policy for choosing rooms earlier this month, making it easier for students to return to the same dormitory room they lived in the previous year. The proposed policy change is still in draft form, and officials are receiving input on it from various groups across the University, according to Executive Director of College Houses and Academic Services Chris Dennis. Dennis said he did not know when, or if, the policy would be approved. If the proposed procedure is finalized, students wishing to move from one college house to another in 1999-2000 may have more difficulty than in the past finding the type of room they want in the house of their choice. Emily Pollack, chairperson of the Residential Advisory Board, explained that the newly-drafted procedure "spells out" that those retaining their rooms or remaining with the same college house will have priority for rooms. While room-retention policy -- under which students and their roommates fill out a form given to their house dean -- is essentially the same as last year, in-house room changes will also be handled by the individual houses next year, Pollack explained. In the past, all room changes were handled through Housing Services. Those living in freshman rooms, however, will not be able to retain, so that the University can reserve the same rooms for next year's freshman class. Similarly, certain rooms in traditionally freshman houses will be reserved for upperclass "clusters." Pollack said that although in the past those remaining in-house often had priority, the process will be more formalized for next year. "They're letting people know that there are lots of incentives [to staying in house]," the College junior said. In addition, individual house deans will accommodate in-house clustering or community living, whereby groups of six to 12 students may sign up to live in adjacent rooms. At least half of the students in the cluster must be current residents of the house. In past years, clustering only took place in the high rises, but under the new draft, students may now do so in any of the college houses, including traditionally-freshman dorms like the Quadrangle. While in-house clusters have a chance to receive prime room types, like four-bedroom quads or three-bedroom triples in the high rises, such rooms will not be available to those students applying for community living in a different house than they currently live in. While in past years, these groups applied for rooms through the arena process -- in which students would list their choices of room type and enter a lottery -- next year the University may use a central computer system to sort out all inter-house requests. Dennis explained that in some cases students making inter-house room changes will only get rooms that are left over after in-house requests are filled. Hill College House Dean Jim O'Donnell said that despite the technical changes, he doesn't expect his house to run differently. "In a way, this isn't new for Hill," O'Donnell said, explaining that Hill has always given preference to upperclassmen that retain their rooms.