Take a moment to consider where you live on or off campus. Some of you will attribute new friends, great experiences and a general acquaintance with St. Louis to your particular residences. Conversely, some of you will look at your current sanctuaries with repugnance because they are too small, too remote or just aren’t a good fit for one reason or another. No matter how one feels about his or her current housing situation, all freshmen, sophomores and juniors were eager to choose their new rooms for next year.
Even though most students live in relative proximity to one another on campus, residence halls differ tremendously in terms of space, environment and people. While some prefer the intimate, close-knit Notre Dame Hall, others prefer the lavish Student Village. The only thing in the way of students residing in their place of choice is, of course, the Department of Housing and Residence Life.
I say “in the way” in the best way possible. Housing and res life does a great service to students by organizing a chaotic process where the collective desires of thousands of students must be filed, documented and handled to accommodate students in the best way possible. In essence, housing and res life is the medium that makes student housing even remotely possible.
Housing and res life organizes its housing by giving students appointments based on several factors. During these appointments, students can select a room from those available on campus. Since students choose their rooms at the actual appointment time, res life’s criteria for appointment time are crucial. In fact, it’s the only way that res life can add any sanity to this process, reminiscent of a lottery.
This year’s criteria go as follows (in order of importance): average number of semesters on campus (including this semester), size of groups, average credit hours for individuals or groups and average cumulative grade point average at the end of the fall 2006 semester for individuals or groups.
Now, I don’t know about you, but there was one criterion that left me frustrated and befuddled: size of groups. Even more so, the fact that the size of groups is regarded above students’ average credit hours and grade point average is, in my humble opinion, pretty ridiculous.
Before I continue, let me comment a bit on the first criterion (number of semesters on campus). I have absolutely no problem with this criterion, nor do I have a problem with its precedence. The fact of the matter is that all freshmen have limited choices when it comes to housing, and many sophomores find themselves in the same predicament. Living in a residence hall that you didn’t necessarily ask for is almost a rite of passage, especially considering that the administration is struggling to house all of its students as it is. It’s a regrettable experience that must be endured. So fine, let the juniors and seniors have the good places because they’ve suffered enough.
However, I see the size of groups criterion as an iconoclastic case in which quantity prevails over quality. In several cases, students have pulled together five or more other students when filling out their housing applications. Regardless of the average credit hours or GPA of the group, a group of more than five students is a powerful force that would most likely get a relatively early appointment time.
To res life’s credit, I understand why they might make size a factor. The fact of the matter is that organizing students in groups is a lot easier than doing so individually. When a group of people agrees to live in the same room or on the same floor in the same building, that particular place fills up quickly and efficiently, and it leaves more time for placing other students. Nevertheless, I still don’t think that the pragmatic benefits of promoting groups supersede the undermining of credit hours and GPA. I’m not suggesting that these ought to be the only two criteria, or even that these two criteria are the most important, but, at the very least, they are a fairly good indicator of a student’s academic efforts and, for that reason alone, I don’t see how they can be neglected in favor of the size of groups.
In my opinion, the size of groups should be held either below the other three criteria or simply not taken into account. It would seem much more fair to make a point system based on class standing, credit hours and GPA for each student (whether individual or in a group) and use that as the ultimate priority indicator. If in a group, each group would receive the average score of each individual student within the group. That way, students would be more selective about signing up in groups, and they would be on an equal playing field with people signing up for housing as individuals.
Furthermore, considering that there are thousands of students, I’m sure the situation has arisen where two students have the same class standing (i.e., freshman, sophomore, etc.), group size, credit hours and GPA. In this case, I’m curious to find out how res life determines who gets priority. Out of pure speculation, I’d guess that there’s some guesswork to it, but regardless, I think res life is obligated to tell students more about this process. Even more so, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to even have other factors play a part in the housing process. One example of a criterion could be the number of extra-curricular activities that a student has or what position they hold, but even I’ll admit that it would be near impossible to quantify such critera. Either way, I’m just saying that other factors can be taken into account. Four factors for thousands of students seem a bit inadequate.
Housing is important to all of us. It’s hard to embrace the college experience when you loathe the place you call home and, on the other hand, living in the place of your choice can make the end of any day just a bit better. Obviously, not every student will get to live in a palace, but, at the very least, res life ought to use a fair process when determining housing priority, which is made explicit to students. If not, yours truly might find himself living in a cardboard box on the corner of Grand and Lindell.
R.H. Popli is a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences.
