A committee working on drastically changing how students get on-campus housing is currently discussing a draft report of its proposals.
Jim Brennan '96, a member of the committee, said the general aims of the proposals are "to simplify the housing process and make it more fair and better organized for all the classes."
This week, Brennan introduced the plan to the 1996 Class Council, and some of the committee's suggestions are outlined in the minutes from Tuesday's meeting.
According to the minutes, the committee currently plans to suggest giving seniors the highest priority numbers for housing and giving every student one, not two, random lottery numbers.
Currently, students are first assigned to a cluster and then given a room. The committee will propose that housing be based primarily on room type, according to the minutes.
Also, the committee currently plans to allow students to pull people with low priority numbers into their room but not into their clusters.
Although the committee has been meeting since the beginning of the fall, committee members would not discuss specifics about the report and say their proposals are not yet in the final stages.
Associate Director of Residential Life Bud Beatty, who heads the committee, predicts that the committee's report will be finalized some time in mid-February and will be ready for implementation for the housing lottery this spring.
Brennan said the committee's proposals were formulated with the goal of rectifying the injustices many Dartmouth students perceive within the housing system.
In the previous system, "there were a lot of disparities in the way housing went about," he said. "There were too many loopholes and it was hard to use the past housing plan with so many students wanting housing this fall."
Many of the proposed ideas come from Dartmouth students and other colleges, Brennan said.
Draft proposals have been shown only to the people on the committee.
The committee's members include Beatty, Brennan, Dawn Conner '95, David Hemmer '96, Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum and Elizabeth Rybicki '96.
"Generally, students' reactions to the proposals have been positive," Brennan said.
The plan will be introduced to area coordinators and undergraduate advisors on Tuesday.
