U. housing info will reflect dorms' class composition

Officials agreed to the measure to designate dorms as mostly freshmen or upperclassmen. The Office of College Houses and Academic Services will add information about the class makeup of each dormitory in their housing brochure to better inform incoming freshmen who are selecting residences. The changes -- which will detail the general class makeup of each college house to indicate either a predominantly freshman or upperclass status -- were made as a result of an Undergraduate Assembly recommendation which suggested that the current housing literature was misleading for freshmen who would prefer to live with students of their own age. The recommendation followed a UA survey conducted last semester which indicated that freshmen living in the Quad were significantly happier with their housing experiences than those living in the high rises. UA members said the housing literature should better reflect those statistics. Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee has adopted the UA's recommendation and said that next year's on-line and hard copy housing brochures have been amended to indicate which houses are composed of mainly freshmen and which dorms primarily house upperclassmen. "Students now have a better picture of what the college [house] system is really like," said UA member David Burd, a Wharton freshman. "Many students had no idea that the high rises were predominantly upperclassmen." The amendments to the housing brochures follow the UA's housing survey conducted among 203 randomly selected freshmen living in Harnwell, Harrison and Hamilton college houses and in the Quadrangle. The freshmen in those college houses were asked several questions, including why they chose their particular dorm and whether they are satisfied with their current living situation. The UA used the results of its survey to formulate its recommendations to change the housing literature. "[Brownlee and other housing officials] were very receptive to our concerns and they expressed interest in helping us formulate [another survey for next year]," said UA Vice Chairperson Michael Bassik, a College sophomore. "This opened a new channel between the Residential Living staff and the UA." When asked by the UA to rate their happiness with their current living situation on a scale of one to seven, Quad freshmen reported an average happiness level of 6.2, while high rise freshmen reported an average happiness level of a significantly lower 4.9. While only 2 percent of freshmen in the Quad said they would move out of their current college house if given the opportunity, a larger 18 percent of freshmen living in the high rises said they would move out if presented with the chance. "The problem is the description provided by the University [makes] the high rises seem like a luxury palace in comparison to the other? college houses -- offering apartment-style living with your own kitchen and bathroom. Who could pass that up?" Bassik said. "But the truth is, according to the survey, freshmen have a better first-year living experience in predominantly freshman dorms." And UA member and College freshman Rohan Ramakrishna said, "University descriptions aren't misleading but in future descriptions of dorms we want a more accurate ambience to be represented."