Each year, the wait for housing lottery number assignments is torturous for undergraduates. But even students with good numbers may not be able to pick the room of their choice.
Rooms are pulled from the housing lottery for a variety of reasons every year, said Thomas Forsberg, assistant dean of student life. The University pulls rooms for first-year housing (including counselor locations), program housing assignments, accommodations needed by Disability Support Services and spaces that are scheduled to undergo renovation over the summer, changing the number of students they house.
The number of rooms pulled from the lottery varies from year to year, depending on the number of requests DSS receives, said Jesse Goodman '04, chair of Residential Council.
Forsberg said his office doesn't necessarily know which rooms will be available for students to choose.
"The specific rooms that will be pulled are not determined well in advance, but on the day of a lottery the room inventory for a particular segment is posted," he said.
The University waits until the last minute to make the room inventory list because requests from DSS are often not finalized until then, Forsberg said.
"If there is any question in my mind about putting a particular room into the lottery, I can't in good conscience put it in," he said. "It wouldn't be fair, because if the room hadn't been in the lottery to begin with, the students could have easily picked another room."
The University also reserves the right to pull rooms claimed in the lottery, although it rarely does so, Forsberg said. Rooms not claimed in the lottery are placed in the summer waitlist inventory.
DSS coordinator Cathie Axe said one suite is outfitted with special equipment for students with physical disabilities, and, along with a few other "accessible spaces," it is more likely than others to be pulled.
To request particular housing accommodations, students must fill out a DSS Housing Accommodation Form, meet with Axe and provide documentation for their injury, handicap or mental illness, Axe said.
DSS must feel confident that a student's request for special housing is legitimate, Axe said.
"To ensure that everything stays fair, the documentation a student must provide is not simply a few written sentences. A family doctor friend can't just write something out," she said. "we need thorough documentation. We talk to the student to fully understand the problem and maybe even with their doctor."
Whether a room is pulled on students' behalf is contingent on their specific needs, but usually, DSS requests that they first enter the housing lottery.
"Once the student gets their number, the Residential Life Office determines whether that number could possibly get them something they need, and if not, a room is pulled," Axe said.
