Opinion
A call to digitize housing lottery
By Eva Lynch-Comer ’19
April 28, 2016
Tags opinion
Everyone on campus knows that the housing lottery is horrendous. It’s a stressful time of year that causes a lot of campus contention and drama. How can we change this process?
As a first-year, I knew that the likelihood of getting a spectacular room was low. I wanted to try to get substance-free housing, but I got an unfortunate number and was disappointed when I was not able to. I tried my luck with the general lottery, but once again I was saddled with a horrible number. Many experienced students recommended that I “make friends with a bunch of people this week so I can get pulled by someone with a higher number than me,” something that feels superficial and exploitative. But, having no other choice, I asked around to see if any of my friends with higher numbers needed a roommate to no avail. I felt lost and alone with no idea of what to do. I went through my days preceding the housing lottery with a heavy heart, praying for a miracle. I have heard that around this time, friendships are broken and relationships are crushed, and I was feeling it. It’s hard to not feel upset and that you do not have enough friends when you can’t find any housing options.
When I first looked at the housing lottery page on Hamilton’s website, I was immediately bombarded with a bunch of links to find out more about the process, making me feel overwhelmed. Therefore, most of what I learned about the lottery was through word of mouth. The Office of Residential Life offered to provide help to those who needed it, and Ashley Place, assistant director of residential life, had open hours several times during the week, which was great. Nonetheless, I still feel like this process could be simplified and streamlined.
When I attended the sub-free lottery, it was a bit chaotic. In this technologically advanced society, I do not see why a majority of this process cannot happen online. This way, when a particular dorm is filled, there can be an expedited process of receiving that information and people can save themselves the time of waiting in person with false hope. Ashley Place created a Google document for the general housing lottery to show everyone what spots were open and when, but maybe all of the lotteries could be done exclusively online. This way, people with similar housing preferences could get connected more quickly and efficiently.
A friend of mine at Boston University says their process is online. Granted, Boston University is a large school, so it would not be feasible for a university of that size to do things in person. But why not follow their lead? My friend said that students are assigned a number and a registration time. However, as time goes on, you can see what rooms are already taken and you can rank your preferences of housing dorms online. This is especially useful because there is a slight delay for Hamilton students making the process stressful and disappointing. When I was at the general housing lottery, I felt very overwhelmed. We were all packed into the Events Barn and it was difficult to hear the person who was calling out registration numbers. It felt like the DMV, a place where nobody ever wants to spend their time. It was only by chance that I found someone to pull me. Why not have an online portal to post “Roommate Wanted?”
Although I am content with next year’s living situation, I am not sure that the housing lottery needs to be so stressful. If the whole process was more electronic, it would provide an organized way for students to evaluate where they will be living in the coming year.