Spring Break
EDITORIAL: Prioritize rising sophomores
Their housing is guaranteed
Editorial | 3/24/09
Posted online at 11:31 PM EST on 3/23/09
/ Last updated at 2:06 AM EST on 3/23/09
Residence Life finished distributing rooms to rising sophomores last Tuesday. However, the staff finished a bit too soon, as several first-years were waitlisted at the end of the night. This should not have been the case. Rising sophomores should be ResLife's first priority. ResLife exacerbated the stress of these students, who were already concerned about their slim prospects for sophomore housing.
The University guarantees students who check the box housing for the duration of their freshman and sophomore years. This means that the number of available beds must, of course, match the number of rising sophomores who intend to live on campus. Staff members should have realized far in advance of room selection that they needed to designate more sophomore rooms. There should not have been a discrepancy between the numbers of sophomores and available rooms.
But there was, and several sophomores were wrongly waitlisted last Tuesday. Following this, ResLife successfully offered a room to every junior and senior intending to live on campus next year on Wednesday and Thursday. According to Rebecca Erenrich '12, one of the waitlisted first-years, ResLife staff told her at the time of room selection that they would inform her of her final housing arrangements "within a week." There should have been no reason for such a long wait. Rising sophomores are entitled to housing before upperclassmen. A waitlist for rising sophomores should not exist.
That ResLife failed to alleviate the tension first-years felt at room selection was not only an easily remediable blunder but also a display of poor customer service tactics. Rising sophomores at room selection expect to leave at the end of the night with a place to live the following academic year. However, students did not receive this reassurance last Tuesday. The final group of first-years waiting to select rooms at the end of the night had to be made to understand that there had been an error in the housing process that clearly should not have occurred. Students should never perceive that they are being slighted or misguided as they did this year.
The ramifications of ResLife's miscount should not be taken lightly. A student's living situation bears heavily on him, and the process involved is not simple-especially for first-years choosing housing for the first time. Students are at the mercy of the system. As the authority on the matter, ResLife should understand the magnitude of the impact this process can have on students, and ResLife staff should have taken a greater initiative in ensuring a comfortable room selection experience for rising sophomores.
The University guarantees students who check the box housing for the duration of their freshman and sophomore years. This means that the number of available beds must, of course, match the number of rising sophomores who intend to live on campus. Staff members should have realized far in advance of room selection that they needed to designate more sophomore rooms. There should not have been a discrepancy between the numbers of sophomores and available rooms.
But there was, and several sophomores were wrongly waitlisted last Tuesday. Following this, ResLife successfully offered a room to every junior and senior intending to live on campus next year on Wednesday and Thursday. According to Rebecca Erenrich '12, one of the waitlisted first-years, ResLife staff told her at the time of room selection that they would inform her of her final housing arrangements "within a week." There should have been no reason for such a long wait. Rising sophomores are entitled to housing before upperclassmen. A waitlist for rising sophomores should not exist.
That ResLife failed to alleviate the tension first-years felt at room selection was not only an easily remediable blunder but also a display of poor customer service tactics. Rising sophomores at room selection expect to leave at the end of the night with a place to live the following academic year. However, students did not receive this reassurance last Tuesday. The final group of first-years waiting to select rooms at the end of the night had to be made to understand that there had been an error in the housing process that clearly should not have occurred. Students should never perceive that they are being slighted or misguided as they did this year.
The ramifications of ResLife's miscount should not be taken lightly. A student's living situation bears heavily on him, and the process involved is not simple-especially for first-years choosing housing for the first time. Students are at the mercy of the system. As the authority on the matter, ResLife should understand the magnitude of the impact this process can have on students, and ResLife staff should have taken a greater initiative in ensuring a comfortable room selection experience for rising sophomores.
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