Merit Housing Challenges Room Draw

by Michael Rouleau on 26/10/09 at 2:22 pm

Eastern’s Housing and Residential Life Department has just recently proposed a new room selec¬tion process. If passed, no longer will the process of assigning students to residence halls be left solely to the random chance of a room draw lottery. Over the next one to three years, Eastern plans to transition from its “room draw” system, to a merit or “priority points” based sys¬tem. ECSU’s interest in this has been encouraged by its effectiveness at other universities such as; UCONN, Marist, and UMASS Amherst. With avid support and opposition on both sides of the proposal, the future of Eastern’s housing has become a con¬frontational topic across campus.
Where the current sys¬tem has drawn much negative feed¬back from students and parents due to its inequity and inadequacy, the new proposal will incorporate ECSU’s Core Values into the pro¬cess (academic excellence, engage¬ment, inclusion, integrity, empow¬erment, and social responsibility). Students will earn priority points based on their number of credits, cumulative GPA, RA educational program participation, RA com¬munity service program participa¬tion, and conduct score (write-ups).
With each category, one receives a certain number of prior¬ity points. Conclusively, the high¬er number of priority points one has, the earlier they get to pick a room; vice-versa for those with less impressive academic numbers.
Of course, since upper¬classmen naturally have more credits, they are granted the upper hand in pick¬ing before under¬classmen. However, if implemented, no longer will a student be able to remain in a single room until they choose if they are an upperclass¬men. Each year, one must re-partic¬ipate in the quali¬fication process.
Controversially how¬ever, the priority points system does not take into con¬sideration or reward points for club, sport, or on-campus job participation.
While some feel this proposal is the most just and fair way in deciding housing, others still find it problem¬atic. For one thing, opponents feel that the system will segregate the “smarter” kids from the “dumber” ones. With GPA such a deciding fac¬tor for the order of room draw, it is predictable that the “nicer” dorms (like Laurel and Nutmeg) will fill up fast and first. This leaves those with less impressive academic num¬bers in the less desirable rooms (like Occum).Also, this leaves “inferior” students with a smaller chance of ever making it into one of those coveted dorms. Many also combat this system because they may end up compromising a higher GPA by taking extra challenging cours¬es, and/or in the effort of partak¬ing in sports teams, clubs, and jobs.
This is just one of the sever¬al projects and issues being faced and undergone at Eastern Connecticut State University’s ever evolving cam¬pus. Still, as stated earlier, this is just a proposal. It is still subject to change or dismissal. One thing is for sure though; the unsatisfaction with ECSU’s current housing situation has been addressed, and it is only a mat¬ter of time before things are changed.

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