Room Draw

Students who were enrolled in COS 333: Advanced Programming Techniques last spring have developed two new TigerApps, an updated version of the Student Room Guide and the Pursuit of Mappyness, to improve students’ ability to navigate room draw and campus events, respectively.

Unfortunately, this past week hit freshmen with a second round of fears — this time in the form of room draw, a process that will allow us to choose our roommates and preferred rooms in whatever two-year guaranteed residential college we are already in. With the novelty of choice, we no longer are at the mercy of the completely random, seemingly fair lottery process. Instead, we have to make a decision about which person or people we think we would be able to survive a year with — based on only a few months of getting to know one another.

Just as the registrar was required to step in to fill the gap left by the student course guide, the housing department should fill the gap left by the student room guide by creating a centralized room evaluation system to provide more access to information about rooms.

For several students, the details of the room draw process have proved confusing due to unclear information provided by the Housing Department. Lisa DePaul, associate director for student housing, said in an e-mail that the majority of feedback she receives from students is positive.