After technical glitches and incomplete applications, the apartment sign up process has returned to the old, manual system, thereby nullifying all apartment assignments given in the past week.
As of Wednesday, students began filing into the Marguerite Hall lobby to sign up for an apartment during their designated appointment time. The appointments continue through Monday and were scheduled according to the average credit hours per group.
Last Thursday and Friday, Department of Housing and Residence Life officials met with Student Government Association members to determine the appropriate course of action.
“Given the time left in the semester to complete the process and the desire to run a process that students felt was fair, returning to the manual process was the best choice,” said Director of Housing Argyle Wade.
One option considered included rerunning the automated system with the technical glitches corrected. After testing this option, 454 people would have received new assignments. The system did allow more people into the apartments, with 124 getting apartments who did not originally receive one, but 53 people would receive no assignment despite receiving one in the first run.
Another option included fixing the logic errors in the program and allowing people to make corrections to their preferences. One final option, according to Wade, would run the assignments by groups of credit hours and then let those students in that group that did not receive apartments to come in and sign up for one before the next group was processed.
“[The manual process] was the fastest way to run the process and still give students the opportunity to change their mind about their apartment choices if their original preferences weren’t available,” Wade explained.
The lack of knowledge created many complications for students.
“Using the manual system prevents people from falling through the cracks as they can do with the online system without the correct education,” said Mike Rozier, SGA president-elect.
The automated system was still utilized to some extent in conjunction with the manual process to collect application materials, sort and rank those materials and provide data analysis of the applicant pool. Wade noted that it was also used to assign people staying in the same apartment and pulling people in.
With the apartment process extended, the residence hall sign up has been extended to April 23. Students have been able to apply online for residence halls since April 4.
It is still unsure whether or not the automated system will be used fully for residence hall assignments. “We will make that determination on how to conduct the residence hall assignment process after meeting with SGA representatives,” Wade said.
Nice Sarcone, chairman of the SGA Residential Concerns Committee, suggested the online system be used for data collection. “They will run the system and scrutinize it more carefully,” he said. “They must make sure the system works before sending out any housing assignments.”
In the future, Wade believes his department can better communicate and educate students about the online process.
Rozier believes the online system will work well in the future with the proper education. “[Information Technology Services] can fix the logic errors rather easily; it is the education of the students that we should be concerned with the next time around. I anticipate that over the summer we will make revisions and improvements to the current system, and ultimately the program will meet the needs of the students, said Wade.
Both Rozier and Sarcone spoke highly of the manner in which Residence Life handled the situation, especially in light of past situations.
“It was obvious that their chief concern was making sure the students got the most fair treatment possible,” Rozier said.
Sarcone said, “In comparison to past experiences, I would say they did an outstanding job.” He noted that many students on the first day after the first round of assignments were offered little help by Residence Life, as there was little Residence Life could do, but once the problems were recognized, the service greatly improved.
Wade applauded his staff. “They have worked tirelessly to help the hundreds of students who have contacted us. In the end, it is the people behind the process that are making it work.”
