The annual scramble for corner rooms, half baths and prime locations which students know as room draw kicked off Monday night and will extend through next week.
The most visible change to the lottery system this year has been the institution of the "squatting" policy, in which students who currently live in certain dormitories and will be on campus next Fall have the opportunity to remain in their cluster.
"This was an attempt to provide some kind of continuity to the [residential] experience," Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum said of the new system, noting that squatting is a common policy at other colleges.
Squatting replaces last year's system of "grouping," in which students were able to select up to seven students with whom they wished to share a floor.
"We heard from a lot of students that were very unhappy -- people were finding group-mates while at Leede arena [during room draw], rather than grouping with their friends," Rosenblum said.
Rosenblum described the dormitories selected for squatting this year -- Ripley/Woodward/Smith, Wheeler/Richardson, The Lodge and the Fayerweathers -- as "second tier."
Earlier this week, 83 students squatted rooms in the Ripley/Woodward/Smith and Fayerweathers cluster and 30 students claimed space in Wheeler/Richardson. Approximately 20 students were expected to attend substance-free squatting night for Russell-Sage/Butterfield yesterday.
No students elected to squat in The Lodge.
In other changes, Massachusetts Row will be converted to all-upperclassmen housing, and fewer freshmen will be assigned to Gold Coast rooms.
Rosenblum explained that these moves are a consequence of the decision to restrict all River and Choates cluster rooms for first year students -- a change that has likely abated at least one fear for rising sophomores with high lottery numbers.
Thus far, satisfaction has been fairly high amongst students who chose to squat.
"I decided to squat because I felt that was my best chance to get a good room," Kerrin Egalka '04, who squatted a two -room double atop Wheeler Hall, said.
"It was a bit nerve-wracking because you didn't know if you were going to get a room," Egalka said, noting that fewer rooms were available to squatters than she had anticipated.
"[My roommate and I] had really bad numbers, and we thought we wouldn't get a room otherwise. But we also really liked the cluster." Abigail Goodhue '04 said in explanation of her reasons for squatting.
Rosenblum noted that the relatively low number of students participating in squatting means the new policy is unlikely to greatly affect the composition of the housing waitlist, though she stated that at this point she has "no idea" how many students will have to wait for housing.
