The stated purpose of freshman housing is to encourage unity. It strives to build a bond between members of the same class. It is the vision administrators have been working for and sacrificing toward for the last four years.
Yet, the university is purposely halting de facto class housing at the expense of the junior class.
If the housing lottery were to be conducted under the point system of previous years, most sophomores would end up living in the less desirable Susan B. Anthony Halls.
But under this year?s lottery system, Residential Life is reserving a certain number of rooms in Towers for sophomores.
Administrators have said they want the classes to interact and are therefore preventing the creation of all-sophomore or all-junior dorms.
They also say they want to keep sophomores from getting the bottom of the barrel.
This flawed logic will force certain juniors into less desirable housing. As underclassmen, sophomores should get last pick. They?ll have their chance next year as juniors.
Current juniors are already seeing the negative ramifications of this system. The six-person lottery offers 72 suites and one cluster to 109 six-person groups. According to the numbers, no groups of six juniors are currently in a position to get a suite. They will most likely end up in doubles or separated from their friends.
Class housing may not be the way to create an ideal community. But when administrators created freshman housing, they essentially said that class housing is what they want.
If they believe in their mission to unify a class as freshmen, they should not be dismayed if these students choose to live together for the rest of their years at the university. And they should not prevent them from doing so at the expense of upperclassmen who are entitled to the most desirable housing.
