The tangled Web of room selection

While the application for on-campus housing is now online, many students say that the process is more problematic and tiresome than filling out the paperwork by hand. The Department of Housing and Conference Services contracted with a local software development company to put the application process for on campus housing on the Web. The same application used in years past is accessible via campusexpress.com, a Penn site developed last summer. "We would like to go online as much as possible," Director of Housing and Conference Services Doug Berger said. "My goal for the department is that we will have a system eventually where people can just pick the room they want without having to apply." But for some students, the process has been more trouble than its worth. Students in Harnwell College House, for one, had problems accessing the application online. "I tried to get to the site from my computer and it wouldn't open," College sophomore Susan Goodman said. "We got an e-mail saying if it doesn't work then we had to go get a hard copy so we could get it in on time." Students staying in their current room had from February 1 through February 5 to fill out the application. Those wishing to change residences can apply online at the end of February and the beginning of March. According to Berger, 1,100 students applied for room retention -- and about 100 had problems with the online process. But members of the department said that the conversion of the process from manual applications to the Internet was in response to student requests. "The process is student-driven, coming through student surveys and other forms of feedback," Marketing Manager for Housing and Conference Services Lynn Rotoli said. "Our department is trying to take suggestions and be pioneers." Currently, Penn is the only Ivy League school where students can apply online for on-campus housing. Officials from the Office of College Houses and Academic Services noted that coordinating such a task could be difficult. "We have so many different options since there are so many types of rooms so it is quite an undertaking," Director of the Office of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee said. "You have to design a system capable of dealing with all of them," the Harnwell Faculty Advisor noted. But students said the system isn't ready to deal with all of their requests. "We sat in front of the computer for hours trying to get our application to go through," College sophomore Kathryn Hague said. "It was difficult to coordinate all the roommate preferences on the computer since we had to do it one at a time." Berger recognized that the online system has some glitches. Students were notified via e-mail after the application was taken offline if they had a problem. "The number one issue students had with the online application was coordinating roommate preferences," Berger said. "We will be working in the next few years to fix it because right now it isn't very student friendly." But Berger said that in general, students have told him they liked the new system. "The feedback we are getting is positive," Berger said. "This is our first jump into an online system -- it is a work in progress." Some students, however, said they thought the online application was helpful. "It is more convenient because that way you don't have to go out and get the form," College sophomore Miriam Sadek said. "You can edit it and you won't lose it as easily."