I understand that liking or disliking the housing lottery is a matter of personal choice. I also think that most students, myself included, detest the housing lottery just like they detest when there are long lines at Mail Services, that the Blue Room doesn’t always take meal credits and when the stapler at the Rockefeller Library is broken.
The housing lottery as it is now could be seen as a “necessary evil,” as a Sept. 12 editorial states (“Save the housing lottery”), but not a “magical moment in the academic year when students gather together to learn from the past, relish in the present and prepare for the future.” At best, the event is chaotic. At worst, it can end friendships and reduce people to tears on the steps of Sayles Hall. Any step toward better organizing or streamlining that process should be lauded. Finally, if students truly hold the “tradition” dear, then Residential Life should hold the lottery as usual with the option to pick housing online and see if anyone shows up. I won’t see you there.
Walker Mills ’15
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