After the weekend's Board of Trustees meeting, trustee Brian Golden called on-campus housing the University's highest priority. But a discussion in Metcalf Hall Monday of a new housing proposal, to be voted on by the student body Thursday, drew almost no students.
Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, Director of Residential Life and Learning Yolanda King, and Tufts Community Union President Jeff Katzin presented the proposal, largely to other people involved in the project.
Under the proposed plan, students would get their sophomore, junior and senior housing lottery numbers in November of their freshman year. The numbers for sophomore and senior year would be opposites of each other.
"There are people who say to us all the time that they have lousy luck," Reitman said. "It would be fairer to have some system where if you get a lousy number one year there is a guarantee of a better number another year."
Because of study abroad complications, and the limited
on-campus space available for juniors, the numbers for junior year would be randomized independently of the other two.
The campus has about 3,500 beds and 4,500 students, Reitman said. The gap is bridged by students studying abroad, living in fraternities and sororities and choosing to live off campus. About 300 people are still denied rooms who want them, though, Reitman said.
Under the current system, seniors have priority in choosing housing, followed by juniors. Because a certain number of rooms must be set aside for freshmen and sophomores so that they can fulfill the requirement to live on campus, juniors are the first to be denied housing.
According to Reitman, between 24 percent and 78 percent of the senior class chooses to live on campus any given year. This range makes it difficult for juniors to predict the availability of on-campus housing in advance. One of the goals of the proposed system is to give students more time to make living arrangements. "Predictability is everything," Reitman said.
"Students fear they're not going to get junior year housing so they go abroad for the full year," Katzin said. The proposed system aims to simplify the process and reduce the amount of "gambling" students do under the current procedure. Because student lottery numbers are all independent of each other under the present setup, they may get poor lottery numbers every year.
After the discussion, the creators of the proposal discussed how to handle numbers for roommates. Under the current system, students - mostly sophomores - and their roommates select rooms at the designated time for the higher lottery number in the pair.
Though there initially was disagreement, Katzin said, the proposed plan will average the roommates' numbers. "We're going to add averaging to the proposal," he said. If two pairs of roommates have the same average, the pair with the highest individual lottery number will choose first.
According to Reitman and King, freshmen living in forced triples will continue to be compensated for this in later years.
"If we do have a change, nothing that we do will undo the advantage points promised [to students in triples]," Reitman said.
Some aspects of the current system will stay in place under the proposed plan. Sophomores and freshmen will still be guaranteed housing and required to live on campus.
At the discussion, Katzin defended this requirement. "Feeling removed from the campus after only being here for a year won't help build community on campus," he said of the possibility of allowing sophomores to live off campus.
Also consistent with the old plan is the policy of allowing seniors to pick first in the March lottery, with juniors picking second. Though seniors are not guaranteed housing, there has never been a problem in finding it for those seniors who request it.
"We've never shut out seniors who wish to live on campus," Reitman said.
Sophia-Gordon Hall was also discussed. The proposal will allot up to 18 of the building's 21 apartments for pre-lottery application, similar to Hillsides and Latin Way. Groups of students apply before the lottery for apartments and their numbers are averaged. The remaining rooms in Sophia-Gordon will be available in the regular lottery.
Students will receive an e-mail Thursday with instructions on how to vote on the proposal. The Office of Residential Life and Learning, the Tufts Community Union Senate and the Dean of Students Office will consider the results before proceeding with the plan. Katzin said students who vote "no" would be asked for a reason.
"We need the input of everyone because the last thing we want to do is implement change for change's sake," Reitman said. "We want to change things for the better."
