Unlike past years, the housing lottery ran smoothly Saturday, but some student complaints of unfairness ring true.
The Community Living and Learning Center added a pair of positive new aspects of the lottery process – making choosing a residence hall a much less stressful task. But by reserving three residence halls only for sophomores, CLLC cheated some rising junior and seniors.
Splitting the lottery between two weekends – Feb. 26 and March 5 – and televising it on channel 33 of GW cable save students’ time. No longer are students herded into J Street, waiting for countless hours until their receiving their chance to select a room. Instead, students were aware of which day their lottery numbers would be called, and by checking out channel 33, students could track the process from their rooms.
Some rising juniors were rightfully upset with their choice of residence halls. The Schenley, the Dakota and Riverside Towers were reserved for sophomores only, so rising juniors and seniors had their choices unfairly limited. Because of the limited options, for some students, the lottery isn’t really a lottery.
CLLCs decision to split the lottery into two days and televising the lottery has effectively streamlined the process. But in the future, CLLC would be wise to make all residence halls available to rising juniors and seniors.