Survey reveals room draw dissatisfaction

Author: Michelle Constant

Most students at the College believe room draw needs reform, according to a recent campus-wide survey conducted by the Student Government Association (SGA). Senators spoke at length about the survey results during an Oct. 29 meeting, though they could not decide upon a definitive course of action.

The survey, administered online last week and completed by 840 students, asked respondents about their feelings regarding the current room draw system and then allowed them to choose among competing proposals to change the process. Proposals included reallocating some rooms to different commons, offering open draw for all students and making room draw open for seniors only.

Although many students, particularly underclassmen, were neutral on the current room draw system (33.3 percent), more either disapproved or strongly disapproved (43.6 percent). Only 22.1 percent of students approved or strongly approved of the current system.

Indicating the particularly strong dissatisfaction with inequities in room quality, 63.8 percent of students believe that reform is important or very important and 73 percent of students said facilities were the biggest issue within the commons system - choosing room quality over location, having friends in a commons or the staff and social programming of a commons. Interestingly, students' commons largely affected their viewpoint, as 80 percent of Brainerd students said they supported room draw reform while only 35 percent of Atwater students wanted changes.

While SGA President Alex Stanton '07 said that "there is no foolproof way to fix [the room draw system]," he recognized that action must be taken because, in general, "students are not happy with housing and they do want reform."

Though the SGA reached no consensus during its meeting as to which proposal to follow, Stanton indicated that they seem to be leaning towards suggesting open draw for seniors only because right now, "the difference between good and bad [senior] housing is very big." However, Stanton expressed Atwater students' concerns that with such a change, students who live in Coffrin for two years may not draw their anticipated Atwater Hall A or B suite during senior year.

Valerie Weed '08 thinks it is "a good idea for commons regulations to be eliminated for upperclassmen," but "important to stay with the same groups of people when your just starting out" as an underclassman. Stanton also said that he thinks a completely open room draw for underclassmen would be too complicated, offering them too many choices.

Cook Commons Dean David Edleson said that room draw has "always been a source of tension," even before the Commons system was established. Though Cook Commons always has an issue with housing, especially for sophomores, Edleson said that room draw complaints have decreased greatly over the past few years. As the chair of the committee that reworked the room draw system a few years ago, he believes that "the commons system needs to be a four-year neighborhood," fitting with what the Strategic Plan refers to as the College's commitment to "a system of five Commons with contiguous living and social spaces."

Edleson sees the clear inequities in housing, but also pointed out that when a few rooms are reallocated "in one dorm, it messes things up pretty broadly."

Edleson expressed his concern that the students who filled out the surveys are the people who are least happy with the current room draw situation, skewing the results. While open to new, thoughtful proposals from students to balance flexibility with the structure of the commons system, Edleson wants to "make sure we're not reinventing the same mistakes" from past unsuccessful room draw policies.

Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson expressed that even in room draw systems preceding the Commons system, "there have always been students who have been disappointed with their room draw results." As Edleson stated, the goal is to provide the best housing to the largest number of students possible - the response is "to the whole, not to individuals."

The College has been developing the "Enhanced Residential Plan" since 1998, with the commons system as the "vision for residential life at Middlebury." The College's Strategic Plan, adopted last spring, proposes to provide better housing for seniors, improve public residential spaces such as lounges and kitchens and consider revising the room draw process "until attractive senior housing is available in all five Commons."