Both Residential Life and students are making plans for the housing lottery, which starts this Tuesday when the first rising sophomores make their picks. But these students will find that their options have been slightly limited, as the number of singles available for members of the Class of 2004 to live in next year was reduced to 20 rooms in Wren and Haskell Halls.
According to Residential Life, the decision was made because there are enough doubles on campus to house almost all of next year's sophomore class, as well as the incoming freshman class. That opens up more singles for juniors and seniors, though it remains to be seen whether this will help alleviate the housing crunch, since ResLife cannot predict how many upperclassmen will want rooms on campus.
ResLife is attempting to fill all available spaces in doubles with freshmen and sophomores, and will give singles to any remaining sophomores only as a last resort, with the exception of the 20 allotted rooms.
The freshman class, at 1,183 students, will not be the first to experience troubles in acquiring singles for sophomore housing. Still, this year's sophomore class sized in at 1,347, a large number that helped many sophomores obtain singles in more popular dorms.
Several freshman have expressed concern about this year's circumstances because those hoping to live in singles must take the risk of attending their lottery appointments without a roommate. If all available singles are taken, they will not be permitted to choose a room until the end of the selection process.
Many also feel that ResLife has not outwardly advertised the dearth of singles.
"They did [this] without consulting any students - elected representatives and the student body in general were left out of the decision-making process," Tufts Community Union (TCU) President David Moon said. "Nor did they bother to tell anyone that this was going to be the case... instead, they tried to do it all clandestine-like."
But acting Director of Residential Life Lorraine Toppi said that ResLife has made every effort to inform students about the inner workings of the housing lottery by hosting information sessions and posting information on its website.
"We have answered a lot of personal e-mails and have spoken personally to every student that has come to the office," she said. "I have told the sophomore-to-be class from the beginning that the only singles to be given out this year will be in Wren and Haskell."
ResLife's website says that there are "a limited number of singles" for members of the Class of 2004. Specific room allocations have not yet been listed and will most likely appear today.
Upperclassmen say that room choices have been posted earlier in the past, and the fact that they are not yet available is frustrating. However, Toppi says this is not the case, and the nature of the lottery process makes it difficult to gauge any predictions about housing until immediately before selection begins.
"We cannot and will not give out specific room information until the lottery process actually starts," she said. "Posting the room listing is a manual process and we would prefer to be accurate. It has never been posted earlier."
Moon said that, while ResLife's services have been improving, signs of regression are becoming apparent. "Since when did they just make decisions without student input?" he asked. "[Until now] they had been doing well this year by not doing that."
Though temporarily alleviated by the addition of South Hall in 1991, Tufts' housing crisis has worsened in recent years due to the rise of off-campus rent prices and the growth of the size of incoming classes. While allotting singles previously designated for sophomores to upperclassmen is a step towards eliminating the shortage, ResLife still anticipates that only a small percentage of next year's junior class will receive on-campus housing.
