New room draw system faces first true test

Author: Jaime Fuller

On March 19, Middlebury College students were assigned random room draw numbers for the first time since the inception of the commons system in 1998. This marks a dramatic change from the point system, in which students were rewarded for their residency within a commons. The new 4/2 system will instead assign juniors and seniors a random number and an equal opportunity to all campus housing, regardless of commons affiliation.

Some upperclassmen, like Aaron Krivitzky '09.5, seemed to be content with the changes the administration has proposed.

"I like it," said Krivitzky. "It gives me the benefit of having a single anywhere on campus. Why should you have to live in the same commons all four years? It doesn't make sense."

However, some underclassmen, who must stay within their commons for their first two years, are not as ebullient about the housing changes as the juniors and seniors.

"The prospect of living in Milliken next year isn't that exciting," said Toren Hardee '11. "The sophomore housing in the other commons is much nicer."

But students across the board seem to be satisfied with the housing freedom allowed to upperclassmen, even if they feel claustrophobic about remaining in their commons the first two years.

"It's kind of weird that you are in your commons all four years," said David Bell '11.

The administration made these changes in response to a recommendation from the Student Government Association, which voted to decouple seniors from the commons housing system. The 4/2 commons system changes are also in accordance with Recommendation 65 of the Strategic Plan, which proposes equalizing housing opportunities for seniors. In the Feb. 13 release of the Progress Report on Implementing the Strategic Plan, the administration wrote that "The spring 2008 room draw is being revised to give seniors more nearly equal access to the housing that seniors find most attractive."

The old commons system often caused complaints among upperclassmen who felt the quality in senior housing ranged vastly from commons to commons. While Ross and Atwater had extensive renovations completed over the past decade, the other commons have been relegated to Old Stone Row and other older residential buildings. The reshuffling that happens among the commons every year leaves large amounts of file moving and paperwork that must be taken care of by the administration every time a student changes commons.

Dean of the College Tim Spears believed that these changes to the commons system will offer the freedom and choice that upperclassmen crave.

"Older students want to live with their friends without being encumbered by the commons system," said Spears. "The 4/2 commons system is a way of addressing that while doing justice to what the commons is supposed to do in the first place."

Another new feature of the 4/2 plan is the introduction of the Super Block, which was created because of a recommendation from the Student and Social Life Task Force. The administration hopes that the Super Block, along with the academic interest, language, and social houses, will be able to invigorate the social aspects of residential life.

According to the Middlebury College Web site, "The goal of the Super Block is to empower Junior and Senior students with a common interest … to live together, support each other's growth and skills in that area of interest, and in turn enrich and broaden the College community." These new housing arrangements will be set up in Brooker and Palmer Houses and contain 30 beds each.

The constant rotation of commons deans and heads was one of the consequences of the commons system that the administration feels that the students will be willing to live without. The new changes in the 4/2 system permit students to retain their commons membership even if they change their location on campus.

"I think that students will like it," said Spears. "People recognize with all the strengths of the commons system, we can still improve it. Students appreciate the flexibility they are going to get from housing and the fact that they will be able to maintain relationships with their deans and their heads over their four years."

The open senior and junior room draw is not the only change that the 4/2 system is making - first-years and sophomores are also affected by the plan. According to Spears, these changes are meant to "create a more unified cohort of first-years and sophomores." Starting next year, all first-year Seminars will be commons-based. The administration hopes to eventually introduce a "Sophomore Experience" program to the Commons system so that the sophomores do not feel left out of the sweeping residential reform, but as of now the sophomores receive neither the freedom of the classes above them nor the academic/residential connection of the class below them.

Spears believed that the administration has responded to the students' wishes for more freedom and choice in housing, and that the changes will not eliminate the aspects of the commons that the student body loves.

"We've tried to take the best that the commons system has to offer," he said, "and maintain and build upon those features while at the same time offering more flexibility in the last two years."

The administration has made many changes that it hopes will appeal to the desires of students as well as adhering to the regulations stipulated by the College's Strategic Plan. However, the student body and administration will not be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan until the fall semester of the next academic year, when the College will test drive the 4/2 commons system and determine whether they succeeded in their mission.

At the MiDDecisions: The Who & How of Making Bureaucratic Decisions at Midd forum on March 11, co-Head of Ross Commons Katy Abbot was asked questions about how the 4/2 system would change and improve the decade-old commons system. She acknowledged that this was a new experience for everyone, students and administrators alike.

"It's a brave new world we are entering into and we'll have to adjust things as we go," said Abbott.